Turkey turns down Haitian murder extradition request

• Samir Handal was arrested at Istanbul Airport in November after arriving from the United States.
• President Jovenel Moise was shot last July at his home in Port-au-Prince.
• Handal’s lawyers argued that Interpol’s “red notice” has been lifted.

A Turkish court denied an extradition request for a suspect detained in connection with the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise last year according to local media.

Samir Handal was arrested at Istanbul Airport in November after arriving from the United States with Haitian, Jordanian, and Palestinian passports.

At the time, Haiti’s serving foreign minister Claude Joseph called Handal “one of the people of greatest interest to the investigation”.

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Handal’s lawyers argued that Interpol’s “red notice” has been lifted, and that he would be tortured if returned to Haiti as requested by authorities there, the DHA news agency reported, adding that the court ordered the suspect’s release.

Moise was shot last July at his home in Port-au-Prince and while dozens of people have been arrested, the identity of those who ordered the attack remains a mystery.

Three suspects are currently on trial in Miami, facing a maximum sentence of life in prison: a former Haitian senator, a retired Colombian military officer, and a Haitian-Chilean businessman.

The US legal system claims jurisdiction in this case, claiming that part of the plot to assassinate the president was allegedly hatched in Florida.

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