PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Courtroom of Attraction has ordered a number of clergy members of the Episcopal Church of Haiti, together with former senior authorities officers, to face trial in a high-profile arms and ammunition trafficking case courting again to 2022.
The choice, issued April 28, reopens one of many nation’s most intently watched instances, practically 4 years after police seized a cache of weapons from a cargo linked to the Church.
Amongst these referred to prison court docket are monks Frantz Cole, Jean Madoché Vil and Fritz Désiré, in addition to Jean Marie Gilles, Mamion Saint-Germain and pastor Dieuné Day. Former public officers, together with ex-Minister of Economic system Michel Patrick Boisvert and former non secular affairs official Evens Souffrant, are additionally named within the proceedings.
Prosecutors accuse the defendants of complicity within the unlawful importation and trafficking of firearms and ammunition, in addition to associated prices together with smuggling and counterfeiting.
Case rooted in a serious weapons seizure, authorized reversals and renewed investigation
The case started in July 2022, when Haitian police intercepted a transport container on the Caribbean Port Providers (CPS) terminal in La Saline, Port-au-Prince.
Inside, authorities discovered 18 assault rifles — together with AK-47, Galil and M4 fashions — together with a shotgun, 4 pistols, practically 20,000 rounds of ammunition, dozens of magazines, a rifle sight and about $50,000 in counterfeit foreign money.
The invention shocked the general public and raised considerations about how weapons proceed to enter Haiti, the place armed teams have expanded their management in recent times.
In September 2023, investigating choose Marthel Jean Claude dismissed prices in opposition to Church members, citing a scarcity of proof linking them on to the cargo. He instructed the likelihood {that a} prison community had exploited the Church’s import privileges with out its information.
“Thus, it’s made identified to all that the Episcopal Church of Haiti, its monks, and its lay members are the principle victims of this mafia community.”
Episcopal Church of Haiti
Nonetheless, the Courtroom of Attraction reopened the case in June 2025 after it was re-assigned to investigating choose Noé Masillon Pierre, citing gaps within the investigation and the necessity for additional examination. The newest ruling reverses the sooner dismissal and sends the case to trial.
A number of different people, together with enterprise and logistics actors, had been additionally implicated in earlier phases of the investigation.
Church maintains innocence amid broader safety implications
The Episcopal Church of Haiti has constantly denied involvement, arguing that it by no means ordered or cleared the cargo.
“The Episcopal Church of Haiti has not positioned any container orders and has undertaken no customs clearance procedures,” the establishment mentioned in a July 2022 statement.
Earlier this month, Church leaders renewed requires the discharge of detained clergy and lay members, describing them as victims of a broader prison scheme.
“Thus, it’s made identified to all that the Episcopal Church of Haiti, its monks, and its lay members are the principle victims of this mafia community,” the Church clergy mentioned, breaking their silence for the primary time for the reason that July 2022 assertion.
The case unfolds in opposition to the backdrop of Haiti’s deepening safety disaster, the place the proliferation of unlawful weapons has fueled gang violence and weakened state authority.
Observers say the trial may make clear trafficking networks that provide arms to prison teams, a key issue within the nation’s instability.
The court docket’s resolution marks a brand new part in one among Haiti’s most intently watched prison instances, with potential implications for each accountability and public belief in establishments.
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