Eighteen suspects extradited to US over Haitian president’s 2021 killing

Federal court in Florida to try men accused of orchestrating the transnational plot to kill Jovenel Moise from US soil.

Colombians and Haitians who are accused of involvement in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise are escorted in handcuffs to their court hearing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 26, 2025 [Odelyn Joseph/AP]

Eighteen suspects facing federal charges for the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise have been flown to the United States.

A military flight on Sunday transported the suspects from the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, to the US state of Florida, where the defendants are set to stand trial for their alleged involvement in the transnational plot to kill the former leader.

The major development comes after federal prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida successfully secured convictions in May against what they called “gang leaders” and “co-conspirators” implicated in the scheme to kill Moise.

The high-profile investigation is being directed by US Attorney Jason A Reding Quinones, an appointee of US President Donald Trump.

“Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moise,” Quinones wrote on social media. “We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, to those who financed it, facilitated it, supported it or committed crimes to make it possible. Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished.”

Quinones did not immediately identify the suspects being extradited, but those who remain in Haiti awaiting trial include more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official.

Quinones said that the FBI and others “remain steadfast in ensuring that all individuals who allegedly sought profit from the assassination of a head of state are held fully accountable”, with FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles confirming that multiple arrests in the US and abroad were made on Sunday.

Moise, 53, had been shot dead overnight at his private residence in the Pelerin 5 neighbourhood, in the hills above Port-au-Prince in July 2021, while his wife was critically injured. His killing caused a profound political vacuum that left the Caribbean nation devoid of any elected national leader. Capitalising on this institutional collapse, armed gangs have rapidly expanded their influence, ultimately consolidating control over an estimated 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.

At least 8,100 gang killings were documented in 2025, with insecurity displacing about 1.5 million people, according to the United Nations.

Legal jurisdiction was established by US federal courts in Florida, the closest US state to Haiti, because the overarching plot to assassinate Moise had been primarily engineered, financed, and staged out of the southern part of the state, according to federal prosecutors.

A fair trial inside Haiti had also grown increasingly impossible owing to the ongoing security collapse and entrenched graft stemming from intense gang violence, political chaos and overlapping humanitarian crises that have severely paralysed and hollowed out the judicial system.

In Haiti, prominent human rights activist and executive director of the National Human Rights Defense ⁠Network Pierre Esperance said that the transfer ⁠of the 18 suspects to the US was a “disgrace for the Haitian justice system”, and called for an overhaul of the judicial system to allow such complicated cases to be tried inside Haiti in the future.

In May, a jury in Florida convicted four men in the killing, and at least five others have pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences.

No national elections have been held in Haiti since Moise’s assassination.

佛罗里达州联邦法院将审判被控策划从美国本土谋杀乔文内尔·莫伊斯的跨国阴谋的男子。

2025年5月26日，在海地太子港，被指控参与2021年海地总统若弗内尔·莫伊兹遇刺案的哥伦比亚人和海地人被戴上手铐押往法庭听证会。[Odelyn Joseph/AP]

18 名因涉嫌参与 2021 年海地总统若弗内尔·莫伊兹遇刺案而面临联邦指控的嫌疑人已被押送至美国。

周日，一架军用飞机将嫌疑人从海地首都太子港运送到美国佛罗里达州，被告将在那里接受审判，他们被指控参与了谋杀这位前领导人的跨国阴谋。

此前，美国佛罗里达州南区检察官办公室的联邦检察官在 5 月份成功对参与谋杀莫伊斯的阴谋的所谓“团伙头目”和“同谋”提起诉讼，并最终定罪。

这项备受瞩目的调查由美国总统唐纳德·特朗普任命的美国检察官杰森·A·雷丁·奎诺内斯负责。

“今天标志着我们追查若弗内尔·莫伊兹总统遇刺案责任的又一个重要阶段，”奎诺内斯在社交媒体上写道。“我们将追查证据，无论它指向何方，都将追查那些资助、协助、支持或犯下罪行以促成此事的人。五年过去了，我们仍在将被告送上美国法庭，我们的工作远未结束。”

奎诺内斯没有立即透露被引渡嫌疑人的身份，但目前仍在海地等待审判的人员包括十几名哥伦比亚士兵和一名海地前政府官员。

奎诺内斯表示，联邦调查局和其他机构“将继续坚定不移地确保所有涉嫌从刺杀国家元首中牟利的人都受到全面追究”，联邦调查局主管特工布雷特·斯基尔斯证实，周日在美国和国外进行了多次逮捕行动。

2021年7月，53岁的莫伊斯在太子港郊外山丘上的佩勒林5号街区的私人住宅内遭枪击身亡，他的妻子身受重伤。他的遇害造成了严重的政治真空，使这个加勒比海国家失去了任何民选的国家领导人。武装团伙趁机利用这一制度崩溃，迅速扩张势力，最终控制了太子港约90%的地区。

据联合国统计，2025 年至少有 8100 起帮派杀戮事件发生，不安全局势导致约 150 万人流离失所。

据联邦检察官称，由于刺杀莫伊兹的总体阴谋主要是在该州南部策划、资助和实施的，因此美国佛罗里达州（距离海地最近的美国州）的联邦法院确立了此案的法律管辖权。

由于持续不断的安全崩溃和根深蒂固的贪污腐败，海地的司法系统严重瘫痪和空洞化，而这些又源于严重的帮派暴力、政治混乱和相互交织的人道主义危机，导致海地司法系统持续瘫痪和腐败。在海地进行公正审判也变得越来越不可能。

在海地，著名人权活动家、国家人权捍卫网络执行主任皮埃尔·埃斯佩兰斯表示，将18名嫌疑人移送至美国是“海地司法系统的耻辱”，并呼吁对司法系统进行彻底改革，以便将来能够在海地境内审理此类复杂的案件。

5 月，佛罗里达州的一个陪审团判定四名男子犯有谋杀罪，另有至少五人认罪并正在服无期徒刑。

自莫伊兹遇刺以来，海地一直没有举行过全国选举。