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Haiti: PM sacks prosecutor who suspected him of links to Moise assassination

HAITI was plunged into further political turmoil in Tuesday after Prime Minister Ariel Henry sacked the country’s chief prosecutor who had accused him of links to the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Bed-Ford Claude was relieved from his post by a letter from Mr Henry who claimed that his dismissal was for a “grave administrative error,” without giving details.

“I have the pleasure of informing you that it was decided to terminate your post,” Mr Henry wrote in a publicly distributed letter.

The sacking came hours after Mr Claude had asked the judge investigating Mr Moise’s murder to charge the prime minister with involvement in the case.

Mr Henry had been asked to explain two phone calls made to Joseph Felix Badio, the main suspect in the case, in the hours after Mr Moise was shot dead in his Port-au-Prince home on July 7. 

Geolocation data shows that Mr Badio, who is now on the run, was at the scene of the crime when the calls took place.

Mr Claude had also written to Haitian immigration telling them not to let Mr Henry leave the country “due to serious presumption relative to the assassination of the president.”

The prime minister dismissed the allegations as “politicking,” refusing to respond to the charges prompting the move to dismiss Mr Claude.

In a separate letter he announced that he would be replaced as the chief public prosecutor by Frantz Louis Juste.

But it is unclear whether the sacking is valid. Haiti’s constitution states that the prosecutor can only be appointed or fired by the president.

On Saturday agreement was reached to establish a transitional government until the holding of presidential elections and a referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution next year.

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