A key suspect in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has been arrested, Haiti’s foreign minister confirmed to the Miami Herald.
Samir Handal was arrested in Turkey on Sunday night after arriving on a Turkish Airlines flight, Haiti Foreign Affairs Minister Claude Joseph said. Handal had left for Turkey from Miami, where he had been hiding out since fleeing Haiti after the July 7 assassination of Moïse.
He is the second suspect to be arrested in the past month. Mario Palacios Palacios, a former Colombian military officer, was arrested in Kingston, Jamaica, last month after surrendering. Palacios remains in custody in Jamaica, despite a request from Joseph for his extradition to Haiti.
Jamaica doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Haiti, which means that Palacios could soon find himself back in Colombia under a deportation order from a Jamaican judge, who found him guilty of illegally entering the country, according to the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.
In addition to Jamaica, Joseph has also written to Colombia’s foreign minister and vice president to seek her cooperation with having Palacios sent to Haiti, where 18 other former Colombian military soldiers are jailed and accused of killing Moïse.
