Haitian prosecutor asks to investigate prime minister Ariel Henry for Moise assassination

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A prosecutor asked Tuesday the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince to investigate the Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, as a defendant in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

In a letter addressed to Judge Garry Orélien, in charge of the investigation of the case, prosecutor Bel-Ford Claude bases his request on the fact that the Prime Minister spoke on the phone twice with one of the suspects of having ordered the assassination, former official Joseph Felix Badio, hours after the assassination.

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In another letter sent to the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, the prosecutor requested that Ariel Henry be prevented from leaving the country “on serious suspicion of the assassination” of President Moise, committed on July 7.

The assassination case is currently in the hands of Judge Orélien, who is the only authority competent to call witnesses or defendants to testify or to decide who is a suspect in the assassination.

Last week, the same prosecutor sent an “invitation” to Henry to appear this Tuesday to be questioned about the phone calls, a summons that was publicly disqualified by Henry himself.

“No distraction, no summons or invitation, no maneuver, no threat, no rearguard combat, no aggression will distract me from my mission,” Henry said on Saturday, during the signing ceremony of a political agreement with the opposition.

Haitian authorities have reported that 44 people are in custody for the assassination, among them 18 Colombians accused of being part of the commando that killed Moise and 12 police officers who were part of the president’s security corps, which did not react the attack.