The President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated six months ago. A Colombian suspect has now been arrested in the United States. He is accused of participating in the conspiracy against Moïse as part of a group of around 20 military trained Colombians and some Haitian-American dual citizens.
A Colombian suspect in the murder of Jovenel Moïse has been arrested in America.
(dpa)
Half a year after the assassination of the Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, a Colombian suspect was arrested in the USA. The 43-year-old is accused of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States in a federal court in Florida, the US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
The former soldier had fled to Jamaica and was to be deported from there to his home country. During a stopover in Panama, however, he said he was ready to travel to the United States. According to the criminal complaint, the suspect had already spoken to American law enforcement officers voluntarily in October.
The accused is accused of participating in the conspiracy against Moïse as part of a group of around 20 military trained Colombians and some Haitian-American dual citizens. The head of state of the Caribbean country was killed with twelve shots on the night of July 7th last year in his residence in Port-au-Prince.
The Colombians are said to have been originally recruited to bring Moïse under the pretext of an alleged arrest warrant. According to the information, the person arrested said he had been informed by accomplices by July 6th at the latest that Moïse should be murdered instead. He faces life imprisonment.
One of the suspects, a Haitian-American dual citizen, was reported to have been in Florida a few days before the crime and had asked alleged accomplices there for assistance in the arrest of Moïse. He was arrested in Haiti after the murder, along with dozen others – including 18 Colombians. Another three Colombians were killed. The background to the act remained unclear.