Haiti President Jovenel Moise's Assassination Suspect Reportedly Has Connection With Prime Minister Ariel Henry
New evidence suggests that Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry maintained communications with the prime suspect in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
Henry and the suspect were said to be in close contact even after the murder, according to The New York Times report.
Phone records seen by the news outlet, including interviews with Haitian officials and a prime suspect in the crime, showed incriminating details about the two men's connection to one another.
Joseph Felix Badio is a former justice ministry official wanted by the Haitian authorities on claims of organizing the attack that killed Moise.
The evidence showed that Badio spoke to Henry before the killing and after the deed. It also includes two calls for a total of seven minutes after the assassination.
Badio was also reported to have visited Henry's official residence twice at night, about four months later while he was being wanted by police. However, a spokesman for the prime minister said that he did not speak to Badio after Moise's assassination, according to The Telegraph report.
Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry's Connection to The Assassination
Haitian officials involved in the investigation noted that Henry would currently be a suspect if he was not the head of government.
A suspect in the investigation, Rodolphe Jaar, who is a Haitian businessman, said that Badio had described Henry as his "good friend" who he had "full control of."
Phone calls between Henry and Badio were first released publicly in September by a Haitian prosecutor. The prosecutor was later fired from the case.
Prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude noted at the time that phone records showed Henry had communicated with the prime suspect twice.
Claude wrote to the judge overseeing the investigation into Moise's assassination and asked him to charge Henry as a suspect, according to a Reuters report.
He also wrote to Haitian migration services, ordering the agency not to let the prime minister leave the country due to "serious presumption" relative to the killing of the president.
Claude wrote in the official request that there are enough compromising elements to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment, according to The Guardian report.
A letter dated September 13 noted that Henry was firing Claude for grave "administrative error" without going into further detail.
Frantz Lous Juste was named the replacement of Claude to the post.
Haiti President Jovenel Moise's Assassination
Moise was shot dead in his home in the Pelerin 5 neighborhood. He was shot 12 times and had bullet wounds to his forehead and several to his torso, according to a BBC News report.
One of the judges conducting the investigation noted that his left eye had been gouged out, and bones in his arms had been broken.
Martine Moise, who was the president's First Lady, was also shot but survived.
Haitian police noted that the group responsible for Moise's assassination was mainly composed of foreign mercenaries, with 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans.
The Colombians were former soldiers, with its group having a lieutenant colonel.
READ MORE: 4 of Haiti President Jovenel Moise's 'Presumed Assassins' Killed, 2 Arrested by Police
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Haiti | PM Ariel Henry: Suspect in President's Jovenel Moise killing | Latest World English News - from WION