(Miami) A former Haitian senator was sentenced Tuesday in Miami by a US federal court to life imprisonment for his role in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Dressed in a brown prison jumpsuit, Joseph Joel John, 52, addressed the court before the verdict was announced, saying he did not want to kill the president but on the contrary to bring him to justice for his mismanagement from the country.
When the other sponsors made the decision to assassinate him, he could not have backed down for fear of being killed, he assured.
“Magistrate, have mercy on me,” he implored the judge in French, apologizing to the president’s relatives and Haitians for “this heinous crime which should not have happened.”
The former senator had admitted earlier to having notably provided vehicles and met on several occasions with the other conspirators, in Haiti and in Florida, according to the agreement to plead guilty that he signed in October with the prosecution.
He is the third person to be convicted in the United States in this case, for which 11 individuals were arrested and charged by American justice.
A businessman of Haitian and Chilean nationality, Rodolphe Jaar, and a retired Colombian military officer, were sentenced this year to life in prison for their role in the assassination of the former president.
Jovenel Moïse, 53, was shot and killed at his home near the capital Port-au-Prince by a commando of more than 20 trained people, mainly Colombians, without his guards intervening.
The operation initially aimed to kidnap the president, but evolved into an assassination, according to court documents.
The United States has jurisdiction in the matter because the plot was hatched in part from Florida, a southeastern state where a large Haitian diaspora lives.
The death of Jovenel Moïse plunged Haiti further into chaos, as the small Caribbean state was already plagued by gang violence. The latter now control 80% of the capital, and the number of serious crimes has reached records, according to the UN representative in the country.
No elections have been able to take place since 2016, and the presidency has been vacant since the assassination of Mr. Moïse.
Faced with this security and humanitarian crisis, the UN Security Council gave its agreement in October to send a multinational mission led by Kenya to Haiti to help the Haitian police.