Haiti, February 06: Ten American Christians charged in Haiti with child kidnapping and conspiracy were denied conditional release this morning and sent to jail to await trial, their lawyer has said.
“The judge did not accept the request for conditional release,” said Edwin Coq, lawyer for the group that was detained a week ago for trying to smuggle a group of 33 children out of Haiti into the Dominican Republic.
Sitting in the prosecutors office, the 10 could be seen looking dejected after having previously been held in a police detention centre.
On their departure one of the women, Laura Silsby, was asked what was going on.
“We just don’t know, we just don’t know,” she replied.
It later became clear that the 10 had been remanded in custody.
“The judge passed down two detention orders, one for the group of five men, who will be held at the national prison, and another for the five women who will be held at Petionville women’s prison.”
The national prison in Port-au-Prince held 4,000 inmates before it was badly damaged in the massive earthquake that devastated the city on January 12.
Hearings are planned for next week, said Mr Coq, who had petitioned for the group to be released pending their trial, which could take months to prepare.
——-Agencies