Haiti PM names new justice minister amid questions over links to president's assassins
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry appointed a new Justice minister late on Wednesday, a day after dismissing a prosecutor who requested his indictment as part of the investigation into the assassination of the late President Jovenel Moise.
Liszt Quitel was appointed interim Minister of Justice and Public Security, according to a special issue of the official newspaper Le Moniteur, dated September 15. He had been serving as Interior Minister since 20 July.
The appointment came as confusion reigned in Haiti, more than two months after the murder of the head of State in his private home in the middle of the night by an armed commando team.
On Tuesday morning, the government commissioner in Port-au-Prince - equivalent to a federal prosecutor - asked the judge in charge of the investigation to indict the Prime
Minister.
The prosecutor, Bed-Fort Claude, had written the previous Friday to the head of government inviting him to present himself voluntarily to the prosecution to explain the content of two phone calls he allegedly had with one of the main suspects behind the assassination on the night of the attack.
That suspect was Joseph Felix Badio, the former executive of the Justice ministry's anti-corruption unit.
Badio's phone was allegedly tracked to the area near Moise's home when Badio called Henry twice in the early hours of July 7, after the president was shot dead by gunmen.
On Saturday, the prime minister denounced the prosecutor's approach, calling it "diversionary tactics."
Because the investigation into Moise's assassination had been assigned to an ex
amining magistrate, the prosecutor can no longer legally intervene in the case. It was on these grounds that Henry sacked Claude.
The dismissal on Wednesday of Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent came as the prime minister continues to enjoy the backing of the international community, which has remained silent in the face of the deepening political crisis. - AFP.