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Wife of Haiti’s Assassinated President Indicted in his Killing


Meanwhile, more than 40 suspects are languishing in prison in Haiti awaiting trial, although it was not immediately clear how quickly one would be held following Monday's indictments. Among them are 20 former Colombian soldiers.

Milena Carmona, wife of Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flórez, told The Associated Press that he is innocent.

"What's happening is that this crime is a conspiracy of great magnitudes in which powerful people are behind the scenes running everything, and that's why they're not given freedom," she said of the former soldiers.

U.S. prosecutors have described it as a plot hatched in both Haiti and Florida to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse, who was 53 when he was slain at his private home near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

The attack began late July 6 and ended July 7, according to witnesses.

Martine Moïse and others who were interrogated said they heard heavy gunfire starting around 1 a.m. that lasted between 30 to to 45 minutes before armed men burst into the bedroom of the presidential couple.

Moïse said she was lying on the ground when she heard the attackers yell, "That's not it! That's not it! That's not it!"

She said the suspects made a video call to identify the exact location of what they were searching as they killed the president. She added that she was face down when the suspects tilted her head and tugged on one of her toes "to ensure that she wasn't alive."

Once they left, Moïse said she dragged herself on the ground and whispered to her husband that she was going to try and go to the hospital.

"That's when she noticed that the president was dead and that his left eye had been removed from the socket," the report stated.

Moïse said a group of about 30 to 50 police officers were supposed to guard the presidential residence, but the judge noted that only a handful of officers were present that night.

One officer told the judge that he heard explosions and a voice through a megaphone saying, "Do not shoot! It's a DEA operation! US Army! We know how many officers are inside. Exit with two hands lowered."

Another officer said the head of security of the first lady found her "in critical condition" surrounded by her two children. He said he also saw an undetermined number of people coming out of the president's residence "with briefcases and several envelopes in their possession."

The report quotes Inspector General André Vladimir Paraison saying that the president called him at 1:46 a.m. and told him, "Paraison! Man, hurry up! I'm in trouble! Come quickly and save my life." He said he encountered heavily armed men and couldn't access the residence immediately.

Officers at the scene said they found cars, windows, and doors at the president's private home riddled with bullet holes, along with surveillance cameras cut off and a broken lock on the double-wooden door leading to the presidential bedroom.

The judge said some police officers at the residence were disarmed and handcuffed, while others "had time to throw themselves down a ravine" for safety. In addition, the police officer overseeing presidential security was accused of receiving $80,000 to bribe certain officers "to remain inactive" during the assassination, according to the report.

The judge noted how "none of the police providing security to the head of state was in danger. Unfortunately, the head of state was assassinated with ease."

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