Widow of assassinated Haitian president indicted over his killing

The widow of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was among the 51 people indicted in connection to the 2021 killing on Monday, a major step forward for the case nearly three years after the fact.

Martine Moïse, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police Léon Charles were the most notable of those charged with crimes, alongside the mercenaries that went through with the attack and a number of the president’s closest aides.

Moïse was killed in a raid on his Port-au-Prince home in June 2021 by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries, mostly Colombians. Martine Moïse was also shot during the attack but survived. The president’s bodyguards were unharmed, raising suspicions that they were in on the assassination.

The killing sent Haiti into political turmoil, which is only expected to worsen with news of the arrests. The country is crumbling under surging gang violence and violent protests demanding the resignation of Moïse’s eventual successor, Acting President and Prime Minister Ariel Henry. 

The 122-page report listing the charges is the product of five judges and years of investigation, with previous judges stepping down from the task citing intimidation and threats to their families. 

Charles faces the most serious charges: murder; attempted murder; possession and illegal carrying of weapons; conspiracy against the internal security of the state; and criminal association. He is alleged to be one of the masterminds of the assassination.

Martine Moïse and Joseph were charged with complicity and criminal association, that they knew about the risk to the president before the assassination.

Joseph told The Associated Press that the investigation and charges are part of Henry’s efforts to centralize power in the Haitian government.

“Henry … is weaponizing the Haitian justice system, prosecuting political opponents like me. It’s a classic coup d’état,” Joseph said. “They failed to kill me and Martine Moïse on July 7th 2021, now they are using the Haitian justice system to advance their Machiavellian agenda.”

He called on the FBI and other foreign agencies to independently investigate the killing.

“I won’t stop my fight. Justice must be served,” he said.

Two Americans were also among those charged in the assassination. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American doctor and pastor living in Florida, was set to be Haiti’s next president in the scheme, and fellow Haitian-American Joseph Vincent.

Sanon and Vincent are among 11 suspects previously extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to the assassination. Three have already been sentenced.

The judge’s report alleges that the president’s head of security was paid an $80,000 bribe to lower security on the night of the assassination, and to keep his men out of harm’s way. 

He noted how “none of the police providing security to the head of state was in danger. Unfortunately, the head of state was assassinated with ease.”

Political turmoil in Haiti has only worsened since 2021, with extreme gang violence forcing the U.S. to nearly close its embassy in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government announced last week that it is working to finalize a long-awaited police force led by Kenya to quell gang violence in the city.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk recently noted that more than 800 people were killed, injured or kidnapped across Haiti in January, more than three times the number compared with the same month in 2023.