Leaked document claims the first lady allegedly conspired with the former prime minister to kill the president and replace him herself.

A Haitian judge investigates the killing of President Jovenel Moise has charged his widow, the former prime minister and a former police chief, with complicity in the killing.

The 122-page leaked document, published by local media outlet AyiboPost on Monday, details how the president’s widow, Martine Moise, allegedly colluded with the former prime minister Claude Joseph to kill the president with the intention of replacing him himself.

In the document, Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire ordered the arrest and trial of about 50 people involved in the shooting of Moise in his private home in July 2021. A group of about 20 attackers, most of them Colombian mercenaries, were on site.

All defendants were referred to the criminal court “to be tried on the facts of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, terrorism, murder and complicity in murder.”

In support of the charges against the former first lady, who was injured in the attack, the document described her statements as “so full of contradictions that they leave much to be desired and discredit her.”

Joseph and the former Director General of the National Police, Leon Charles, were also found to have “sufficient evidence” of involvement in the murder. AyiboPost stated that the document did not clearly identify the attack’s masterminds or their financiers.

Moise has criticized what she calls unjustified arrests on social media. Joseph previously told the Miami Herald newspaper that the president’s de facto successor, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, is “using the Haitian justice system as a weapon” to prosecute opponents in a “classic coup.”

A spokesman for Henry’s office said the judge was independent and “free to issue his order in accordance with the law and his conscience.”

Trial in Miami

A separate case involving Moise’s murder is being heard in Miami.

The United States determined that the case fell within its jurisdiction because part of the assassination plot was hatched in South Florida. Criminal proceedings were initiated against eleven people for their alleged involvement in the murder.

Six of 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to send Colombian mercenaries to kidnap Moise, a plan that was transformed at the eleventh hour into a plot to assassinate him.

According to US allegations, the conspirators attempted to replace Moise with Haitian-American pastor Christian Emmanuel Sanon.

chaos

Since Moise’s death, Haiti has only fallen deeper into chaos. No elections were held and Moise was not replaced as president.

Henry, who now leads an opposition party, postponed the election indefinitely, citing a devastating earthquake and the growing power of heavily armed criminal gangs, for which he had sought foreign aid.

Gangs are widespread across much of the country, now estimated to control most of the capital, and the number of murders more than doubled last year to nearly 4,800, according to a United Nations report released this month.

Kenya is preparing to lead a UN-ratified international force to support Haitian police, although past abuses by foreign missions and allegations against Henry’s government have caused countries to shy away from providing voluntary support.