Seventeen Colombian ex-soldiers detained for their alleged participation in the assassination of the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, demanded their “immediate freedom” alleging mistreatment and abuse, according to a letter revealed by local media on Tuesday.
In the letter of twenty pages and written by hand, the detainees denounce “violations of human rights, (of) due process and health problems.”
“We request your help in requesting immediate release for all of us,” says the text addressed to the Colombian government, the state human rights agency, the UN and other organizations.
Moise was shot to death in early July 2021 at his private residence in Port-au-Prince. It is suspected that a command made up of about twenty Colombians was in charge of the attack. Three of the suspected Colombian attackers were killed by Haitian forces and another was extradited and charged in the United States, where he arrived after being arrested in Jamaica while on the run.
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“The terms of legalization of our detention have absolutely expired, consequently, we request support (…) to file this request for habeas corpus,” the letter adds.
The document was signed by 17 people from Port-au-Prince, where they remain detained after the assassination.
“To date, the reason for our arrest has not been reported, (…) we do not have a defense attorney, we have not been brought before any judge,” the ex-military complained.
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The Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister, Marta Lucía Ramírez, has protested on different occasions about the mistreatment of these prisoners in Haiti.
The detainees allege “cruelty, xenophobia, humiliation, physical and psychological torture.”
In January 2022, Ramírez also denounced that the consul in that country was threatened when he was managing the defense.
Bogotá has offered its support to resolve the motives for the crime, which have not been clarified.
Based on investigations that it has collected together with the FBI, the Colombian police suspect that the mercenaries were deceived and that only a few knew about the plan to assassinate the president. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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