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Five of the ten American
Baptists who are prosecuted in Haiti for abduction began to be heard
this morning before a judge in Port-au-Prince.
The five U.S. citizens,
including the spokesman of the group, Laura Silsby, entered without a
word in the building that serves as a prosecutor since the earthquake of
January 12 was due to the courthouse in the city.
They were accompanied by a
Dominican lawyer Jorge Puello said that the press trying to find their
new defenders, after the resignation of their lawyer in Haiti. He did not say whether he
himself had the right to represent them in Haiti.
Yesterday, the Haitian
lawyer Edwin Coq said to have resigned after being accused by the
families of the 10 defendants have requested their money to bribe the
judge and get parole. Asked about the existence
of valid papers to take the children out of Haiti, Mr. Puello said:
"They had legal papers."
A legal source close to
the matter provided that the other five defendants would be heard
tomorrow in the same conditions. The separate hearings
before a further appearance of 10 Wednesday should help to "go into
details" of the case and look for possible inconsistencies in various
accounts, the source said.
Once the investigation is
completed, the prosecutor will decide whether or not parole. The judge has his side
another three months to issue its findings.
