Haiti: judge asked to be appointed to investigate the assassination

Port-au-Prince, Aug 24 (Prensa Latina) The Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights (Cardh) called for the appointment of a sixth judge to investigate the assassination, after the deadlines for the investigation expired last Saturday.

The organization wrote to the dean of the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince, Bernard St-Vil, and pointed out that there should be no “double standards” in the approach to the investigation.

In its letter, Cardh recalled that St-Vil dismissed Judge Garry Orélien, one of those who made the most progress in the investigation, for failing to comply with the terms agreed by law and called for similar treatment for Walter Voltaire, who took over the file in June.

A little more than a year ago, President Jovenel Moïse was shot at his residence in Pelerin 5 by an armed commando composed of Colombian ex-military, most of whom are being held at the National Penitentiary.

Thirteen months later, the investigation has already had five investigating magistrates, however, the more than 40 prisoners related to the file have not yet been charged.

On the first anniversary of the assassination, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti regretted the lack of tangible progress, while the investigation and prosecution of the case “seem to be at a standstill”, they stressed.

For his part, former President Jocelerme Privert said that the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse was a reminder of the fragility of Haitian democracy, and called for it not to go unpunished.