ハイチ大統領暗殺、夫人ら約５０人起訴 元暫定首相と警察長官も

【ポルトープランス（ハイチ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ハイチの司法当局はこのほど、ジョブネル・モイーズ大統領（５３）が２０２１年７月に暗殺された事件をめぐり、大統領夫人や当時の暫定首相、警察長官を含む約５０人を起訴した。地元メディアが１９日、伝えた。（写真はハイチ北部カパイシアンでジョブネル・モイーズ大統領の国葬に参列する妻のマルティーヌ夫人）
　モイーズ氏は首都ポルトープランスにある私邸で約２０人の武装集団に襲撃され、射殺された。実行グループの大半はコロンビア人の傭兵（ようへい）で、警護隊は介入しなかった。
　ハイチのニュースサイト「ＡｙｉｂｏＰｏｓｔ」は１９日、事件を検証している裁判官が、モイーズ氏の妻マルティーヌ夫人ほか５０人について「犯罪の共謀、武装強盗、テロリズム、暗殺とその共犯」の罪で起訴を命じたと報じた。
　マルティーヌ夫人も事件で負傷した。だが、１２２ページに及ぶ報告書は「元大統領夫人の関与を示唆する証拠は起訴するに足る」としている。
　また事件当時暫定首相だったクロード・ジョセフ氏、国家警察長官だったレオン・シャルル氏についても、暗殺に関与した「十分な証拠」があることが判明したという。
　ＡｙｉｂｏＰｏｓｔによると、暗殺の首謀者や資金提供者は報告書では明らかにされていない。
　事件では暗殺計画の一部が米フロリダ州で企てられたことから、米当局も動いており、ハイチ系米国人ジョセフ・ビンセント被告らこれまで４人に終身刑が言い渡されている。
　モイーズ氏の暗殺後、ハイチは混乱に陥っている。選挙は行われておらず、大統領も空席となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/21-17:52）

A Haitian judge has indicted dozens of people over alleged involvement in the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, including his widow, a former prime minister and an ex-police chief, according to court documents seen by AFP.
Moise, 53, was gunned down in July 2021 at his private residence by a group of about 20 assailants, most of them Colombian mercenaries. His security detail did not intervene to protect him.
Since his death, Haiti has only spiraled deeper into chaos. No election has been held and Moise has not been succeeded as president.
An order believed to be from the judge investigating the assassination was leaked to media including AFP.
In it, the magistrate ordered the referral of Moise's widow, Martine Moise, and 50 other people to the criminal court to be judged on the facts of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, terrorism, assassination and complicity in assassination.
The document goes on to say that indications of the involvement of the ex-first lady... are sufficient to indict, adding that her statements were so tainted by contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit her.
Martine Moise was also wounded in the deadly attack.
The 122-page report includes some of her graphic testimony, recounting how, as she was losing a lot of blood and left for dead on the floor of the couple's bedroom, she whispered to her husband that she would try to get medical aid, only to realize that he was already dead.
It listed some of the issues it said the judge had with her testimony, including her claim that at one point she tried to hide beneath the couple's bed. The report claimed that as this piece of furniture is made, not even a giant rat ... measuring between 35 and 45 centimeters can get under it to hide.
Former interim prime minister Claude Joseph and ex-director general of the national police Leon Charles were also found to have sufficient indications of involvement in the killing, the document says.
The report did not clearly identify the masterminds of the assassination, nor who may have financed the killing.
- Widow's lawyer complains -
In a letter to the prosecutor's office in Port-au-Prince, Martine Moise's lawyer Emmanuel Janty alleged that publishing the indictment on social media before officially notifying Moises of the charges against her was a violation of due process and called into question the veracity of the document.
The indictment is devoid of the essential elements of legality and authenticity, namely the signature of the investigating judge and the seal of his office, Janty wrote in the letter dated Monday.
Earlier this month Joseph Vincent, a Haitian-American accused of participating in the assassination, was sentenced to life in prison in a US court.
The United States launched prosecutions against 11 people over their alleged involvement in Moise's killing, finding the cases fell within its jurisdiction because part of the assassination plot was hatched in Florida.
So far, it has sentenced four people to life in prison, including Vincent.
Haiti is in the midst of a severe political, humanitarian and security crisis, with gangs running rampant in large swaths of the country, and homicides more than doubling last year to nearly 4,800, according to a UN report released this month.
More than 1,100 people were killed, injured or kidnapped in January alone, making it the most violent month in the country in two years of conflict, the UN has said.