Haitian gang leader Germine Joly sentenced to life in US prison for orchestrating the 2021 kidnapping of 16 American missionaries
WASHINGTON: A Haitian gang leader has been sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the kidnapping of a group of American missionaries.
Germine Joly, 34, also known as “Yonyon,” was found guilty by a federal jury in May of taking 16 Americans hostage in October 2021.
The hostages, from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, were seized while working at an orphanage in Haiti.
Joly was extradited to the United States from Haiti in May 2022.
US authorities accused him of orchestrating the kidnapping in an attempt to secure his own release from a Port-au-Prince prison.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Joly’s life sentence “makes clear that (his) scheme to win freedom for himself by using Christians as pawns backfired.”
Court documents state Joly used unmonitored cell phones in prison to direct the hostage-taking.
The gang, known as 400 Mawozo, initially demanded a RM1 million ransom for each missionary.
It later said it would free the hostages if Joly was released from prison.
Two hostages were released in November and three more in December after a RM350,000 ransom payment.
The remaining hostages escaped later that December.
Criminal gangs have wrought chronic instability in Haiti, perpetuating violence and kidnappings nationwide. – AFP
