PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – A Haitian judge has indicted dozens of people over alleged involvement in the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, including his widow, a former prime minister and an ex-police chief, according to court documents seen by AFP.
Moise, 53, was gunned down in July 2021 at his private residence by a group of about 20 assailants, most of them Colombian mercenaries. His security detail did not intervene to protect him. Since his death, Haiti has only spiralled deeper into chaos. No election has been held and Moise has not been succeeded as president.
An order believed to be from the judge investigating the assassination was leaked to media including AFP.
In it, the magistrate ordered the referral of Moise’s widow, Martine Moise, and 50 other people to the criminal court “to be judged on the facts of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, terrorism, assassination and complicity in assassination”.
The document goes on to say that “indications of the involvement of the ex-first lady… are sufficient” to indict, adding that her statements were “so tainted by contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit her”.
Martine Moise was also wounded in the deadly attack.
The 122-page report includes some of her graphic testimony, recounting how, as she was “losing a lot of blood” and left for dead on the floor of the couple’s bedroom, she whispered to her husband that she would try to get medical aid, only to realise that he was already dead.
