Pressure mounts on Haiti to fully investigate assassination of President Moise

PORT-AU-PRINCE:

A FORMER Haitian legislator is calling for the appointment of a five-judge panel to investigate the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, even as the justice authorities are finding it difficult to get a judge to examine the file and exhibits relating to the assassination.

Former Deputy Gary Bodeau said that more than a month after Moise was gunned down at his private residence overlooking the capital, Haiti has still not been able to disclose the circumstances that led to his death.

He is calling for the authorities here to a panel of five Haitian judges, supported by United Nations experts, to begin the investigation.

Former prime minister Laurent Lamothe is also questioning the delay in the investigations.

“One month already since the tragic assassination of President Jovenel Moise: Where are we ? We must fight to the end for justice! This fight will not be easy, but unavoidable,” he added.

Last week, the dean of the tribunal, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil, said he was finding I difficult to appoint a judge who would agree to investigate the “explosive” file.

Several investigating judges are reported to have told the dean that they would not participate in the probe because they fear for their own safety, even as he has informed them that he has asked the government to guarantee their safety as well as provide bodyguards.

The documents were last week following 25 days of investigation, interrogation and searches in the killing of Moise, who was shot at least 12 times when the gunmen raided his home. His wife, Martine, who was also injured during the incident, said the gunmen had come looking for a specific document and had been in communication with a Spanish-speaking person on the telephone during the ordeal.

Police say they have arrested 44 people, including 12 Haitian police officers and 18 Colombians, who were allegedly part of the commando team, and two Americans of Haitian descent. The head of Moise’s security detail is among those detained in connection with the plot allegedly organised by a group of Haitians with foreign ties.