A former Haitian justice official, who has been a key suspect in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti, was arrested Thursday after being on the run for more than two years, the New York times reported.
The suspect, Joseph Félix Badio, 60, was captured outside the capital, in the neighborhood of Petion Vile in Port-au-Prince, while driving an S.U.V.
President Moïse was killed on July 7th, 2021, when gunmen carrying automatic weapons and grenades entered his home in Port Au Prince, Haiti, and shot both the president and first lady. The former President was reportedly tortured by the assailants before being killed. Former First Lady Martine Moïse received treatment for her injuries in the United States and survived.
The gunmen were arrested hours after the killing and told authorities Badio had initially given them orders to arrest the president, but that the former justice official changed the plan to murder days before the assassination, the head of the Colombian police stated, per the Times.
Badio had been working for Haiti’s Ministry of Justice and at the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired for alleged ethics violations weeks before the killing.
Last week, former Haitian senator John Joel Joseph pleaded guilty to charges related to the assassination; he is one of the 11 men now in U.S. custody.
In January, four individuals suspected of having a role in the plot were charged. According to the Department of Justice, three of those charged were Haitian-American citizens, the fourth is a Colombian national. Haitian-American citizens James Solages, Joseph Vincent, and Colombian citizen German Alejandro Rivera Garcia were charged by the department with “conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support and resources resulting in death.” Christian Sanon, also a Haitian-American citizen, was charged with “conspiring to smuggle goods from the United States.”