Haiti judge frees 8 missionaries, keeps 2
A Haitian judge decided today to release eight of the ten American missionaries, who have been held since Jan. 30 on accusations of kidnapping 33 children.
“I am extremely disturbed that two of the missionaries are being left behind,” says Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, which has lobbied the Haitian government on behalf of the the missionaries’.
“They operated as a group, they worked as a group – it almost seems punitive or some kind of a payback to hold two and release the eight,” argued Mahoney.
The eight missionaries walked out of the Haitian jail shortly after dusk, escorted by US diplomats. Once inside a white van they flashed smiles and giving a thumbs up to reporters.
Earlier today, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil told The Associated Press that the eight were free to leave without bail or other stipulations after parents of the children testified they voluntarily handed their children over to the missionaries.
“The parents of the kids made statements proving that they can be released,” he said, but added that he wants to question the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, and her nanny, Charisa Coulter for further questioning about their reported efforts to establish an orphanage for Haitian children.
“The judge has taken his decision and he has ordered the release of eight,” said Aviol Fleurant, who identified himself as an attorney for the group. “The world must know that all 10 are innocent!” Fleurant said he expected the judge to release the other two “in a few days.”
Terry Michaelson, an attorney for Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, were five of the missionaries attended church said, “We are disappointed that all in the group are not being released.”
The arrest of all ten ten missionaries came amid the chaos that resulted from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake Jan. 12 that killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, causing widespread destruction and homelessness.
In interviews with several reporters, parents of the children have said that they willfully handed the youngsters over to the Americans after being told they would be educated and well cared for – a hope for a better life their parents said they could not provide.
The children are now at a child-care center in Port-au-Prince.
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