Haiti prosecutor asks judge to charge prime minister over president’s killing
14 September 2021, 18:24
The order was filed by Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude.
Haiti’s chief prosecutor has asked a judge to charge prime minister Ariel Henry over the killing of the president and asked officials to bar him from leaving the country.
The order filed by Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude came on the same day that he requested Mr Henry should meet with him and explain why a key suspect in the assassination of president Jovenel Moise called him twice just hours after the killing.
“There are enough compromising elements … to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment,” Mr Claude wrote in the order.
Mr Claude said the calls were made at 4.03am and 4.20am on July 7, adding that evidence shows the suspect, Joseph Badio, was in the vicinity of Mr Moise’s home at that time.
Badio once worked for Haiti’s ministry of justice and at the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was sacked in May amid accusations of violating unspecified ethical rules.
In the two-page document, Mr Claude said the calls lasted a total of seven minutes and that Mr Henry was at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince at that time.
He also noted that a government official tweeted last month that Mr Henry told him he never spoke with Badio.
