Former Haitian senator John Joel Joseph appeared this Monday before a judge in Miami (USA) after being extradited from Jamaica to answer for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.
Judge Lauren Louis ruled that Joseph, 59, stay in prison until the next hearing, which will take place this month.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida argued that there is a risk that Joseph will abscond.
With this former senator there are three those suspected of being involved in Moise’s murder that are in the hands of the American Justice.
The other two are Rodolphe Jaar, a Chilean nationalized Haitian who was arrested last January in the Dominican Republic and traveled voluntarily to Miami, and the Colombian ex-military Mario Antonio Palacios, who also came to the US voluntarily after being detained on an air layover in Panama.
On January 15, the Jamaican Police arrested the former Haitian senator, who was claimed as one of the suspects in the assassination of President Moise, perpetrated on July 7, 2021.
Joseph, a member of Moise’s political opposition, fled Haiti with his family after the murder and was found by Jamaica Police in a rural community where they had been living incognito.
On April 21, the Jamaican Justice authorized the extradition to the US of the former senatorwho is accused of having rented four vehicles that were used for the attack on President Moise.
In addition to Joseph, Palacios, who faces two charges in the United States, and Jaar, who has a previous conviction for drug trafficking in his criminal record, businessman Samir Handal was arrested in Turkey last November, who is still in that country and is also accused. of participating in the conspiracy to kill Moise.
Until now, four judges have been in charge of the open case in Haiti for the assassination of President Moise, for which dozens of people are in prison, including the alleged intellectual author, the doctor Emmanuel Sanon, without any progress being reported in the investigation.
Moses was assassinated on July 7 last year at his home in Port-au-Prince by an armed command made up of 48 people, including 18 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian origin, who were arrested.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry came to request the help of the United Nations in the murder investigation.
The assassination is also being investigated by the United States Justice.