Missionaries in Haiti child trafficking case face long jail time

Missionaries in Haiti child trafficking case face long jail time
Posted by Arab News
Saturday 6 February 2010 (21 Safar 1431)
Agencies

CHARGED: Eight of the 10 American missionaries
facing child trafficking charges are seen at the police
headquarters in the Port-au-Prince international
airport in this Jan. 30 photo. (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Ten US missionaries faced a long wait behind bars after being charged with child abduction and conspiracy for trying to smuggle 33 children out of quake-hit Haiti.

In a case that has overshadowed the massive international relief effort, the Americans were formally charged Thursday with “kidnapping minors and criminal association,” according to their lawyer Edwin Coq.

The five men and five women, who had arrived at the court in confident mood with their luggage packed, bowed their heads in prayer in the back of a jeep as they were returned to police detention.

Detained a week ago, they now face a long pretrial detention, as Haitian law gives the prosecution three months to draw up its case.

If convicted, they could face nine years in prison for child kidnapping and further jail time for conspiracy.

They have denied ill intent, saying they were only trying to help children abandoned after the devastating Jan. 12 quake that killed an estimated 212,000 people and left at least a million homeless.

Justice Minister Paul Denis said he saw “no reason” why the group from the Idaho-based Baptist charity New Life Children’s Refuge should be sent to the United States for trial.

“It is Haitian law that has been violated,” he said. “It is up to Haitian authorities to hear and judge the case.”

As they were escorted into the jeep, some tried to cover their faces with a black jacket. Haitian journalists whipped it off and one threw a stone before being stopped by police.

The case has sparked outrage in impoverished Haiti where child-trafficking was already rife before the 7.0-magnitude quake struck.

The US missionaries were held as they attempted to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children aged from two months to 12 years.

It has emerged many of the children have living parents or relatives, some of whom may have personally handed them over for a better life.

The defense attorney representing the missionaries said that the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, knew she could not remove the youngsters without proper paperwork, but he characterized the other nine missionaries as unknowingly being caught up in actions they did not understand.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border. But Silsby did,” Attorney Edwin Coq said.

Silsby waved to reporters but declined to answer questions as the missionaries were taken back to the holding cells where they have been held since Saturday.

The missionaries’ detention has raised concerns among other countries including France, whose Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the Haitian government to quickly set up a bilateral commission to look into adoption procedures. French families have taken in 277 Haitian children since the quake.

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