PORT-AU-PRINCE: Not one suspect imprisoned in Haiti has faced trial after being charged in the killing of President Jovenel Moïse, who was gunned down at his home in the nation’s capital nearly four years ago.
Gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation defined by outbursts and tense exchanges between suspects and judges.
“You failed in your mission. And you are not ashamed to declare yourself innocent,” Judge Claude Jean said in a booming voice as he stood and faced a Haitian policeman responsible for protecting the president, who was shot 12 times in Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.
Jean is one of six Haitian judges investigating whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial for the 20 suspects held in the troubled Caribbean country. Authorities said some of the suspects envisioned a coup, not an assassination, leading to lucrative contracts under a new administration.
The suspects include 17 former soldiers from Colombia and three Haitian officials: an ex-mayor, a former policeman and a former Haiti Ministry of Justice employee who worked on an anti-corruption unit. Missing are several key Haitian suspects who escaped last year after a powerful gang federation raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, including Dimitri Hérard, ex-head of security at Haiti’s National Palace.
Three other suspects, all Colombians, were killed hours after Moïse was slain, while a key suspect in the case, Haitian Superior Court Judge Windelle Coq Thélot, died in January while still a fugitive.
Courthouse under siege
The investigation was repeatedly halted by the resignation of judges who feared for their lives. Defense attorneys then appealed after the court ruled there was sufficient evidence for trial. Jean and five other judges are now tasked with restarting the inquiry. But determining complicity among 51 suspects is only one of numerous challenges.
Last year, powerful gangs seized control of the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse where the judges were interrogating suspects. The hearings were suspended until the government rented a home in Pacot, a neighborhood once considered safe enough for the French embassy. But gangs controlling 85 percent of Haiti’s capital recently attacked and forced the government to move again.
The hearings restarted in May, this time in a private home in Pétion-Ville, a community trying to defend itself from gangs seeking full control of Port-au-Prince.
‘Nothing we could do’
As a fan swirled lazily in the background, Judge Phemond Damicy grilled Ronald Guerrier in late May.
One of several police officers tasked with protecting the president, Guerrier insisted he never entered Moïse’s home and couldn’t fight the intruders because he was dazed by a stun grenade.
“The attackers were dressed all in black. They wore balaclavas and blinded us with their flashlights. I couldn’t identify anyone,” Guerrier testified, adding they used a megaphone to claim they were US Drug Enforcement Administration agents. “The attackers operated as if they were entering their own home. It seemed they knew the place perfectly.”
Damicy asked if they shot at drones that Guerrier said were buzzing above the president’s home.
“The attackers covered the entire area with their fire,” Guerrier replied. “There was nothing we could do.”
Damicy grew exasperated. “Under no circumstances should an enemy cross you with impunity to commit his crime,” he said. “In your place, I would fire on the enemy. I would even die, if necessary.”
‘I don’t know’
Inside the investigation’s heavily guarded, stone-and-concrete headquarters in a leafy residential community, raised voices have dominated tense interrogations.
One judge stood and thundered a question about a gun: “On the day of the death of President Jovenel Moïse, were you in possession of a Galil?”
In another outburst in March, a judge repeatedly pressed Joseph Badio, the former Ministry of Justice official who spent two years on the run, about his call to former Prime Minister Ariel Henry after the assassination. At the time, Henry had only been nominated as prime minister by Moïse.
“You can say whatever you want with your mouth,” Badio told the judge, who ordered him to sit as he rose while speaking. “There is no prohibition for me to communicate with anyone I want.”
The tension has carried over into interrogations of the Colombian suspects, who maintain they were hired by a Miami-based security firm to provide security for power and water treatment plants and diplomatic officials, as well as train Haitian police and soldiers.
The Colombians have denied involvement, while their attorney, Nathalie Delisca, said there has been no presumption of innocence during the interrogations.
“The treatment inflicted on the detainees was inhumane,” she said, alleging mistreatment by authorities after their arrest.
The former soldiers said they were beaten, threatened with death, forced to sign documents in a language they don’t understand and barred from communicating with their lawyers and families for long stretches.
“I have been subjected to degrading treatment. I have been subjected to physical and psychological torture,” Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flores said during a recent hearing.
He spoke Spanish in a clear and loud voice, sometimes correcting an interpreter translating his testimony into French.
“I have no involvement because I don’t know when or where the president was assassinated,” Carmona Flores said, claiming he was summoned to provide security at the perimeter of Moïse’s house and did not know the president had been fatally shot.
Working under threat
While the case in Haiti has stalled, the US has charged 11 extradited suspects, with five already pleading guilty to conspiring to kill Moïse.
Five other suspects are awaiting trial, which is now scheduled for March 2026.
They include Anthony “Tony” Intriago, owner of Miami-based CTU Security, and Haitian-Americans James Solages, a key suspect, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor, doctor and failed businessman who envisioned himself as Haiti’s new leader.
Moïse’s widow, Martine Moïse, is expected to testify in the US case. She was injured in the attack and accused by a Haitian judge of complicity and criminal association, which her attorneys deny.
Court documents say the plan was to detain Jovenel Moïse and whisk him away, but changed after the suspects failed to find a plane or sufficient weapons. A day before Moïse died, Solages falsely told other suspects it was a CIA operation and the mission was to kill the president, the documents allege.
Bruner Ulysse, a lawyer and history professor in Haiti, lamented how the local investigation has highlighted what he called “profound challenges” in Haiti’s judicial system.
“While international efforts have yielded some results, the quest for justice in Haiti remains elusive,” Ulysse said. “Judges, prosecutors and lawyers operate under constant threat.”
4 years after Haiti’s president was killed, the investigation drags on
https://arab.news/jg7ph
4 years after Haiti’s president was killed, the investigation drags on
- The investigation was repeatedly halted by the resignation of judges who feared for their lives
Bangladesh sets February date for first vote since 2024 mass uprising
- At least 1,400 protesters were killed in violent crackdown under ex-PM Hasina’s rule
- Interim government promises ‘all necessary support’ for upcoming elections
DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold national elections on Feb. 12, its chief election commissioner has announced, setting the timeline for the nation’s first vote since a student-led uprising that ousted long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina, whose Awami League party-led government was marred by allegations of human rights violations, rigged elections and corruption, was removed from office in August last year after 15 uninterrupted years in power.
Bangladesh has since been led by interim leader Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, who took over governance after Hasina fled to India, where she is now in self-exile.
In a televised address on Thursday, chief election commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin confirmed the voting date to elect 300 lawmakers and said a national referendum on political reforms would also be held on the same day.
“It’s a relief for the voters; it’s a relief for the country. It’s a relief for the investors, it’s a relief for the development partners and for the political parties and the people who did a massive job in July 2024 by sacrificing their lives and limbs to oust a tyranny,” said Prof. A.S.M. Amanullah, political analyst and vice chancellor of the National University in Dhaka.
Mass protests that broke out in 2024 began in early July as peaceful demonstrations, triggered by the reinstatement of a quota system for the allocation of civil service positions.
Two weeks later, they were met with a communications blackout and a violent crackdown by security forces.
A special tribunal in Dhaka found Hasina guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against the protesters, at least 1,400 people of whom died, according to estimates from the UN’s human rights office.
After a months-long trial, she was sentenced to death in November for crimes against humanity.
The February elections will take place in the aftermath of Hasina’s reign, with the Yunus-led administration banning all activities of Awami League, meaning the former ruling party would not be able to join the race next year.
Minor political tensions now revolve around the more than 40 million voters of the Awami League, as the public speculate “how they would move, in which party they would support or whether they would remain silent,” Amanullah said.
“(But) if you consider other than Awami League, if we consider the other political parties, I think the other political parties are sufficient, you know, to make the next poll participatory, and free and fair.”
Bangladesh last held elections in January 2024, which saw Hasina return to office for a fourth consecutive term. That vote was boycotted by the country’s main opposition parties, which accused her administration of rigging the polls.
“There is a growing demand within the society and in the community that they would cast their first vote after almost 15, 16 years. And that would be an (occasion) of big national celebration,” Amanullah said.
In February, more than 127.6 million Bangladeshis will be eligible to cast their vote. It will be Bangladesh’s 13th election since the country gained independence in 1971.
The long-awaited election process now begins with the filing of nominations from Dec. 12 to 29, which will then be reviewed over the following six days. The last date for withdrawing nominations is Jan. 20.
After the voting date was announced, Yunus pledged to “provide all necessary support” to encourage festivity, participation and fairness in the upcoming polls.
“After the historic mass uprising (last year), the country is now moving toward a new path,” he said in a statement. “This election and referendum will consolidate that trajectory, prioritize the will of the people and further strengthen the foundation of a new Bangladesh.”
For Malaika Nur, a 24-year-old Dhaka University student who took part in the 2024 protests, the elections are an opportunity for young people to formally take part in politics.
“Young people have been showing much interest in politics since July 2024. They showed us how the youth can reshape a country’s political condition. If they have a few seats in the parliament, it can be a game-changer for the future of politics in Bangladesh,” she said.
“I hope this election will be different from the last three elections held in the previous regime. There will be a festive mood, people will cast their valuable votes and will get to choose their representative … I hope the elected government will ensure safety and basic rights of every citizen, and will hold fair elections in the future and will not become another fascist.”
