USA Hang OUT

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Ten members of an American Christian group accused of child trafficking in Haiti could be tried in the United States, said the Haitian government yesterday.

“Either they must follow the process here in Haiti, or to follow the process in the United States, it is up to the judge to decide … based on the law in Haiti,” said Culture and Communications Minister Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue.

She later said the group’s appearance before a judge who originally planned for yesterday was postponed because their own Creole language interpreter had not been made available.

Haitian police seized five men and five women with an American passport, and two Haitian when they tried late Friday to cross into the neighboring Dominican Republic with 33 children between two months and 14 years.

The Minister suggested devastating earthquake that struck Haiti 12 January led to the courts could not try the Americans, and as such can be transferred to the United States.

A woman who identifies herself as the mother of at least one of the children, told reporters at police headquarters, where the Americans were determined that she had been told that the group “had an organization that will help the children.”

Laura Silsby, the leader of the Idaho-based group called the New Life Children’s refuge, insisted the group’s goals were entirely altruistic.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites