On February 19, a news item in the Caribbean island nation of Haiti** published an investigation document into the 2021 assassination of a judge in the country**, which was partly surprising: the judge charged the then first lady with involvement in the assassination**.
What motivates the first lady to participate in the assassination of her husband? If the evidence is not reliable, why would the judge prosecute her? There is no clear answer to these questions.
*Assassination. In the early hours of July 7, 2021, the home of the then Haitian ** Jauvernell Moïse was attacked by armed men.
According to Mrs. Martina Moïse, they heard gunfire outside at about 1 a.m., and thirty or forty minutes later, a group of unidentified gunmen who spoke Spanish (most people in Haiti speak Creole, and a small number speak French) broke into the residence and opened fire.
According to Andre Paresson, who was the police commissioner at the time, was later investigated, Moïse called him for help at 1:46, saying, "Pareson, oh my God! Hurry up! I'm in trouble! Come here and help. But Pareson said they met with strong resistance and were unable to immediately enter Moïse's residence to rescue them.
As a result, Moïse was shot 12 times in the gunman's attack and died instantly at the age of 53. First Lady Martina Moïse was also shot in the arm, leg and abdomen, and was seriously injured. She was then taken to a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for an emergency** and on the same day to a hospital in Miami, Florida, USA.
However, none of the bodyguards in the ** government were injured at that time.
The day after the incident, Haiti** announced that at least 28 people were suspected of involvement in the assassination**, including 15 Colombians, mostly war veterans, and two Haitian-Americans. The Colombians confessed that they were hired by a Miami-based security company to carry out the assassination.
Most of the arrested suspects are being examined in Haiti. The assassination was planned in the US state of Florida, which also believes it has jurisdiction over and has prosecuted 11 of them, four of whom have now been sentenced to life in prison.
Turbulent small country. ** The assassination was, of course, a "shocking case". Moïse's death was largely set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Haiti and the violence of gangs in Haitian society.
With an area of less than 30,000 square kilometers, Haiti gained independence from French colonists in 1804. But the country has been in turmoil for a long time, and after the war, it was ruled by the Duvalier family for a long time, and after the first democratic elections were held in 1988, it still could not escape the whirlpool of elections, coups, and turmoil.
The prolonged unrest has also led to social chaos, gangs, kidnappings, robberies, and gang violence that have made parts of Haiti unmanageable, and many Haitians are afraid to leave their homes.
Moïse's own career can also be said to be a microcosm of the turbulence.
In 2015, Moïse won the first place in the vote, but did not reach 50%, so a second round of elections should be held. However, after the first round of the election, the protests were caused by the election opponents' doubts about Moïse, and then the second round of the election was postponed again and again, and the demonstrations turned into violent clashes. Finally, a new round of elections was held in November 2016, and Moïse received 56% of the vote to solve the problem.
During Moïse's administration, seven people were nominated to serve as prime minister in four years, and the political turmoil can be seen. In April 2021, Claude Joseph was appointed prime minister, and before Moïse was assassinated, Moïse had already nominated Ariel Henry to succeed Joseph as prime minister.
It's just that before Henry took office, Moïse was assassinated. Subsequently, there was some entanglement between Joseph and Henry over who would be prime minister, and finally the Haitian parliament supported Henry, and Henry served as prime minister. This also laid the groundwork for this prosecution of the first lady for allegedly participating in the assassination.
Differing opinions. The 122-page investigation of the judges, presided over by Wasser Wither Voltaire, who was also the fifth judge to investigate Moïse's assassination.
In this document, Judge Voltaire indicted more than 50 people, most notably Martina and then Prime Minister Joseph, who were also indicted, on charges of conspiracy and organized crime.
The main evidence used in these allegations was the testimony of the then Secretary General of the Haitian Government, Leonel Valbrun, and the former Haitian Ministry of Justice, Joseph Badio.
Valburun said that two days before the assassination, Martina spent about five hours at her residence "removing something," not randomly, but as if she knew something big was going to happen. And earlier on the day of the assassination, Martina also called ** and told him, "Jevernell didn't do anything for us as **".
Badio said that Joseph and Martina conspired to get rid of Moïse, and the plan was that after getting rid of Moïse, Joseph could be in the current generation until a new election was held, and Martina would run for the new term.
In addition, the documents also found that Martina's recollection and testimony of the assassination scene were also inconsistent, indicating that she had a problem.
In response to these accusations, Joseph hit back, saying that they were the work of the current Prime Minister Henry. Joseph believes that Henry is worried that he or Martina's candidacy will pose a threat to him, so he treats the justice system as his own **, he and Martina.
Martina herself has not yet responded to the allegations in the document, but her lawyer has said before that the Haitian investigation has become Henry's politics.
Some U.S. lawyers involved in the case believe that this accusation is absurd because Martina herself is a victim, and when her husband was assassinated, she herself was shot several times and her injuries were serious. It's hard to imagine that Martina would conspire with Joseph to assassinate her husband.
According to the lawyer, according to the interest analysis, if Joseph and Martina are indeed convicted, it should be the current Prime Minister Henry who will benefit the most.
It is worth mentioning that although Henry is not charged, there are **reports that **records show that he received ** from an alleged suspect ** a few hours after Moïse's assassination, and that he spoke several times in a short period of time. Regarding the rumor, Henry said that he "doesn't remember at all".
It seems that there may be more complex reasons behind the accusation that "the first lady is suspected of participating in the assassination plot". The turmoil in Haiti is here to stay.
Text reporter Qian Kejin, Xinhua News Agency, foreign media, etc.