Haiti still seeking judge to probe president’s assassination

AFP | Haiti’s justice system is still struggling to find a judge willing to investigate the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse a full month after he died, as magistrates fear for their lives if they take on the murky and explosive case.

“It is a sensitive, political dossier. Before agreeing to investigate it, a judge thinks about his own safety and that of his family,” one judge told reporters.

Several magistrates have told the dean of the Court of First Instance in Port-au-Prince that they are not interested in working on the shocking July 7 assassination of Moïse at the presidential residence by a commando team, this judge said.

Moïse’s wife Martine was wounded but survived.

Police say they have arrested 44 people in connection with the killing, including 12 Haitian police officers, 18 Colombians who were allegedly part of the commando team and two Americans of Haitian descent.

The head of Moïse’s security detail is among those detained in connection with the plot allegedly organized by a group of Haitians with foreign ties.

Police have issued wanted-persons notices for several other people, including a judge from Haiti’s highest court, a former senator and a businessman.

Prosecutors have also issued summons for an opposition party leader, the head of Moïse’s own party, and 2 Haitian preachers who had spoken out publicly against the late president.