Haiti Extradites 18 Moïse Assassination Suspects to Face Trial in Florida
Eighteen suspects in the 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been extradited to the US and appeared in a Miami federal court.
Eighteen people arrested in connection with the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were extradited to the United States on Sunday, closing a long-stalled judicial process in Haiti.
US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Reding Quiñones, said the suspects will stand trial in Florida. He did not name them, but those held in Haiti awaiting proceedings included 17 Colombian soldiers and Joseph Badio, a former employee of Haiti's Ministry of Justice who had served in an anti-corruption unit.
On Monday, Badio and more than a dozen other defendants appeared in a federal court in Miami, where he was brought in a wheelchair. US Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid assigned lawyers and set further court dates during brief exchanges with each of the 18 accused.
Badio, described as a key suspect, was arrested in Haiti in October 2023 after evading capture for more than two years. He was dismissed from the government's anti-corruption unit weeks before the assassination over alleged ethics violations. According to the indictment, he posed as a US drug agent and took part in the killing, and he faces a conspiracy charge. Defence lawyers for other suspects in the US have alleged that Badio was the mastermind behind a plan to use the president's arrest as a cover for his assassination. A lawyer appointed to represent him temporarily could not be reached for comment.
US authorities have alleged that South Florida was a central hub for planning and financing the plot to remove Moïse and install a replacement of the conspirators' choosing. At least nine people have so far been convicted at trial or through guilty pleas.
Moïse was killed on 7 July 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, most of them Colombian, attacked his residence near Port-au-Prince. His wife, Martine, was wounded in the assault.
Haiti's Ministry of Justice and Public Security said on Sunday that it had handed the suspects over to the US "to allow for their trial," adding that any proceedings in Haiti "continue to face significant difficulties."