The wife of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was indicted by a judge this week in connection with her husband’s murder in 2021.
Haitian Judge Walther Voltaire indicted former first lady Martine Moïse, the country’s former prime minister, police chief, and dozens of others, including several former Colombian soldiers, in the case.
The indictment accuses Martine Moïse of knowing about the plot and being complicit in it, according to The Wall Street Journal, which noted that there was no direct evidence of her being involved. The judge said that he found she made contradictory statements and that other defendants said she wanted to be president after her husband was dead.
Martine Moïse’s lawyer, Paul Turner, slammed the conspiracy to murder charge as a sham and said that the judge was politically motivated.
“These trumped-up charges by a kangaroo court against political opponents are a Stalinesque move by a wannabe dictator,” Turner said. “It’s saddening to see these tactics deployed against Mrs. Moïse.”
Gedeon Jean, the director of the Center for Human Rights Analysis and Research in Port-au-Prince, said: “The judge didn’t conduct a serious investigation. His work has been very limited and didn’t really explore substantial elements such as the motives behind the killing and who paid for it.”
The situation in Haiti has gone from really bad to horrific following Jovenel Moïse’s death as violent gangs have seized control of most of the country’s capital and have kidnapped or killed thousands of people. The country has no president or elected national officials, according to The New York Times.
A criminal investigation led by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI led to 11 men being arrested, many of whom were in Florida, in connection with the assassination.
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The men arrested were Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 50, a Colombian national and U.S. permanent resident of Miami; Antonio Intriago 59, a Venezuelan-American of Miami; Walter Veintemilla, 54, of Weston; and Frederick Bergmann, 64, of Tampa, according to the DOJ. Others charged in the case included James Solages, 37; Joseph Vincent, 57; German Alejandro Rivera Garcia, 44; Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, 43; Rodolphe Jaar, 49; and Joseph Joel John, 51.