A former Haitian senator is facing criminal charges related to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last July, U.S. prosecutors announced Monday.
51-year-old Joseph Joel John was extradited from Jamaica to the U.S. on Friday and appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Miami on Monday afternoon, according to federal authorities.
He is charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside of the U.S. and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.
John will be the third person tried in Miami in the case of Moise, who was assassinated on July 7 at the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.
The US justice system says it has jurisdiction, in this case, arguing that part of the plan to kill the president was allegedly hatched in Florida.
Last month Palacios, 43, pleaded not guilty. Jaar, 49, has yet to appear in court for his arraignment.
If the three arrested suspects are found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Palacios is accused of being one of 26 Colombian mercenaries who allegedly took part in the murder of Moise at his home in Port-au-Prince. His wife Martine was also shot and wounded.
The mastermind or masterminds of the assassination remain a mystery.
It deepened an already dramatic crisis in destitute Haiti, which is suffering from a lack of security, soaring gang violence, and rampant kidnappings.
Source: Breaking911,