Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday fired prosecutor Bel-Ford Claude hours after he asked a judge to open an investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Henry communicated the prosecutor’s dismissal in a letter justifying the dismissal for an alleged “serious administrative misconduct” committed by Claude.
The prosecutor had asked the Port-au-Prince Court of First Instance to investigate Ariel Henry as the defendant in the case of the murder. In a letter to Judge Garry Orélien, in charge of investigating the case, prosecutor Bel-Ford Claude said the prime minister spoke by phone twice with one of the suspects in ordering the death of Moses, l ex-official Joseph Felix Badio, hours after the murder, on July 7.
Haiti
In another letter sent to the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, the prosecutor called for Ariel Henry to be prevented from leaving the country “for serious presumptions of assassination” of President Moïse. The case of the murder is currently in the hands of Judge Orélien, who is the only competent authority to summon witnesses or defendants or to decide who is suspected of murder. Last week, the same prosecutor sent an ‘invitation’ to Henry to appear on Tuesday to be questioned about the phone calls, a summons that was publicly disqualified by Henry himself.
Haitian authorities have reported that 44 people are in pretrial detention for the murder, including 18 Colombians accused of being part of the order that killed Moise, as well as 12 police officers who were part of the agent’s security force. who did not react to the attack.
Henry on Saturday denounced “distraction maneuvers” in the investigation into the assassination of President Moise, after being invited to appear in court. “Distraction maneuvers to create confusion and prevent justice from doing its job calmly will not happen,” Henry said. “The real culprits, the intellectual perpetrators and the sponsors of the atrocious assassination of President Jovenel Moise will be found, brought to justice and punished for his crime,” he added.
On Friday night, Bed-Ford Claude, Port-au-Prince’s government commissioner – equivalent to the prosecutor – invited Henry to appear before prosecutors on Tuesday. The official argued that, a few hours after Moise’s murder, Henry had telephone conversations with one of the people actively wanted in the context of the investigation.
Félix Badio, a former director of the anti-corruption unit, under the Ministry of Justice, was reportedly geolocated in the district where Moise’s private residence is located during calls to Ariel Henry at 4:03 a.m. and then at 4:20 p.m. As a judge was already in charge of the investigation, the prosecutor has no power to invite or summon anyone but justifies his approach by evoking the “extreme gravity” of this case “for the nation.”
Legally, a prime minister can be heard by a judge only if the president of the republic authorizes it. In his letter, Bed-Ford Claude specified to Henry that his presentation to the prosecution was voluntary, “taking into account the restrictions due to his status as a senior civil servant.”
The Haitian Office for Citizen Protection said it was “outraged and astonished” by the revelation of these phone calls. “Ariel Henry must resign immediately and be brought to justice,” Renan Hedouville, who heads the public institution, said in a letter on Saturday.
Haiti’s main political forces agreed on Saturday to give themselves another year to draft a new constitution and to organize elections in which President Jovenel Moise’s successor will emerge. The agreement was signed by Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the main opposition parties and provides for elections to be held no later than the end of 2022 and the assumption of new authorities in early 2023, a year after the previously provided term. In this transitional period, power will be exercised by a unity government headed by Henry, which will be “essentially non-partisan” and members will be appointed within eight days.
At a ceremony at his official residence, the prime minister described the deal as ‘ambitious and promising’ and has assured that it represents a ‘break’ with the past. “I am sure that this agreement will allow the conduct of state affairs in harmony and good understanding during the interim period, which I wish to be as short as possible,” Henry told the signatories. The common goal, Henry stressed, is “a return to the normal functioning” of democratic institutions “with new foundations, in a secure and stable environment.”
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