An investigative judge, who raised eyebrows last year when he was accused of refusing to investigate a corruption complaint against Haiti’s first lady and several government officials after a controversial no-bid purchase of new identification system has been tapped to oversee the investigation into the murder of President Jovenel Moïse.
Mathieu Chanlatte was put in charge of the high-profile, multinational murder investigation Monday, Magistrate Bernard Saint-Vil, the dean of the Court of First Instance in Port-au-Prince, confirmed to the Miami Herald.
Saint-Vil made the decision after the case was transferred from the Haiti National Police last week to the judiciary. Shortly after receiving the case, Saint-Vil appealed to Haitain authorities to bolster security after several judges raised concerns about safety.
Saint-Vil again alluded to the challenges of such a case, which will be a test of the Haitian judiciary.
“It only requires that the means be made available to it,” he said.
Under Haitian law, Chanlatte has three months to investigate the murder and call witnesses in hopes of figuring out who killed the president. His appointment Monday, quickly stirred controversy in Haiti’s legal circles.
“There are several judges who are considered to be the judges of the power in place. His reputation is that he’s one of those judges,” said Samuel Madistin, a defense lawyer representing three of the individuals who have been arrested.
Chanlatte, who could not be reached for comment, earned the reputation due to two highly controversial cases he was put in charge of during Moïse’s time in office.
In 2019, several individuals filed a complaint against first lady Martine Moïse; the director general of the National Identification Office, Jude Jacques Élibert, and several other former government ministers after Haiti contracted with the German firm Dermalog for the manufacturing of new biometric identification cards that also double as voting cards. They were accused of embezzlement of public funds, influence peddling, abuse of office, criminal association and violation of the law on public procurement, and Chanlatte was accused of refusing to act on the complaints.
While the purchase remains controversial and has helped undermine confidence in fair and transparent elections, there has been no ruling on the accusations.
Chanlatte also found himself the target of criticism last year when he was put in charge of examining new complaints against the independent power provider, Société Générale d’Énergie SA (Sogener), and the widow of the late President René Préval, Elisabeth Débrosse Préval, as part of a controversial maneuver launched by Moïse against the company.
Chanlatte’s involvement in the case was confirmed after police and the justice ministry raided the home of the late president and his wife, provoking accusations of political persecution.
“He’s a magistrate with the reputation of being very close to the regime of PHTK,” the political party that put Moïse in power, Madistin said, adding that Chanlatte’s “irregular rulings” in the Sogener file was heavily criticized.
Madistin said he would have preferred a judge with a more neutral reputation in charge of the probe. Attorney Stanley Gaston, who also has clients in the case, said he will reserve judgment on Chanlatte and “wait to see how he first progresses with the case.”
Though lawyers can contest the appointment of a judge, defense lawyers say it’s a long process that would prolong their clients time behind bars and the Supreme Court, which is currently on vacation, usually does not act quickly on such requests.
Chanlatte’s appointment came after several judges expressed concerns about security. At least two judges and two clerk of courts involved in the case, which is also being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigation and Colombian officials, have said they’ve received serious death threats and have been asked to change their reports.
Renan Hédouville, who heads the Office of Citizen Protection in Haiti, said while Chanlatte is a judge who had been in the system a long time, he doesn’t have much information on him.
But the significance of the case is not lost on him or anyone in a country where the judiciary is weak and judges have been linked to corruption while crimes often go unpunished.
“We hope that the young president will get justice, that all involved will be judged normally” said Hédouville. “This crime is a national crime because there are foreigners in other countries involved in this barbaric act and the United Nations cannot remain indifferent, insensitive because they are defending human rights all over the planet.”
Moïse was killed on July 7 in his private residence in the hills above the capital during a middle-of-the-night armed attack that also left his wife, Martine, seriously wounded. None of the guards were killed and calls for help by the president went unanswered.
On Monday, Haiti National Police confirmed that the case had been transferred from the judicial police to the judiciary, and that no new arrests had been made.
Police have arrested 44 individuals, including 18 Colombian commandos accused of storming the president’s house; four Haitian Americans and 20 Haitian nationals. Of the Haitian nationals, 20 are police officers, Haiti National Police spokeswoman Marie-Michelle Verrier said Monday.
Despite the arrests, police have still not found out who bankrolled the plot, which authorities have said cost millions of dollars to engineer.
Ahead of naming Chanlatte, Haitian authorities faced criticism from lawyers accusing them violating their own due process and violating the constitution because suspects had not been taken in front of a judge within the required 48 hours after their arrests. After nearly a month in custody, prisoners were finally moved from jail cells at the judicial police station to the crowded National Penitentiary.
Under Haitian law , investigating judges have three months to carry out their probe, a deadline that is seldom met. .
“Three months is too short for a case like this. Even four months,” said Jean Wilner Morin, President of the National Association of Haitian Magistrates.
