Haiti ambassador: 'compassion' for American missionaries charged with kidnapping

The Haitian government on Thursday charged 10 American missionaries with abduction. Haiti's ambassador to the US promised "compassion" and said the case shows the world that the government will continue to enforce the rule of law.

The Christian Science Monitor
By Stephen Kurczy Correspondent / February 4, 2010

Boston
The 10 American missionaries who attempted to sneak 33 children out of Haiti last Saturday were charged today with kidnapping.


Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph says the charges signal that anarchy will not prevail, despite the earthquake’s destruction of most government buildings in Port-au-Prince.

“By this action, I think the Haitian government is sending a clear message to the world that there is a government in place, and that nobody can just take it upon himself or herself to come and do in Haitii whatever they think is good,” Mr. Joseph said by telephone Thursday from Washington, D.C.

The Baptist missionaries from Idaho and Kansas were brought Thursday before a judge who found sufficient evidence to charge them with abduction and criminal conspiracy. Those crimes can carry prison terms of up to 15 years.

The stated purpose of the New Life Children's Refuge group's “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission” was to “rescue Haitian orphans.” But it came out that most of the 33 children had families and many of their parents had willingly given the children to the missionaries.

The BBC offers this video of the missionaries being whisked into the courtroom.

“We can say these people were acting in the best interests of Haiti’s children, but you must agree that what has happened is really out of the ordinary and it is illegal,” says Joseph. But he added that their motives will be taken into account during the upcoming trial and judgment.

“I am quite sure they’ll take into consideration the character of the people ... and perhaps show some compassion down the road,” he says.

It was unclear Thursday when or where the actual trial would take place. Prime Minister Max Bellerive said Monday that Haiti is open to having the American Baptist group tried in US courts, given the impact of the Jan. 12 earthquake on government institutions.

Christian groups, who have provided substantial aid to Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake struck, say they will continue to support the country despite the arrests.

Shortly before the court hearing, Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition met with Joseph in Washington.

“The heart of the meeting was coming to try to secure the release of the 10 missionaries who are being detained in Haiti,” says Mahoney, a Presbyterian pastor and activist from Virginia who personally knows several of the arrested Americans and works with their church in Idaho.

“I went as an advocate, saying I know what these people are like, I know who they are, and, even though mistakes were made, it’s important to know they are not child traffickers.”

Now, Mahoney says he is more disappointed in the White House than in Haiti’s officials.

“When you have Haiti’s prime minister referring to caring Christians as kidnappers, and no response from our administration about that, it’s deeply troubling.”

Joseph said he has not spoken with the White House regarding the missionaries’ arrest, but it will not become a sore point between the two countries.

“I don’t see why this should cause any friction,” he says. “I’ve talked with some people off of the record and most agree that this was uncalled for, the way [the missionaries] did it.”

Joseph said the missionaries are being held in a makeshift jail. He said they were being cared for and well fed.

In a similar case, 16 Europeans from a France-based group called Zoe's Ark were charged in 2007 with trying to smuggle 103 children out of Africa. While they were convicted and sentenced to eight years of hard labor, Chad's president pardoned the group.

Joseph said he was familiar with the case, but that it did not necessarily provide a precedent for the current one.

Photo:
Four of 10 Americans who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without proper documents or government permission, arrive to court inside a Haitian police truck in Port-au-Prince, Thursday.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Missionaries denied provisional release

Lawyer for jailed Americans says missionaries only wanted to help
By The Associated Press
Created February 5, 2010 at 3:52pm

Updated February 6, 2010 at 1:08am
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries, one of them a Topeka firefighter, returned to jail Friday after failing to persuade a Haitian judge to grant them provisional release pending the outcome of their case on charges of child kidnapping, their lawyer said.

The weary-looking Americans were led into the back of a police van after spending half the day at a courthouse in the rubble-strewn capital. A judge scheduled three more days of hearings next week, starting Monday, defense attorney Edwin Coq told reporters.

Haitian officials at the court declined to answer questions from journalists about the case. The missionaries did not respond to questions, and Coq said they had been ordered by the judge not to discuss their case.

Among the defendants is Drew Culberth, the 34-year-old youth pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in North Topeka. Culberth joined the short-term mission's trip at the request of his brother-in-law. Culberth left Topeka around Jan. 22 and was to return Saturday.

The lawyer said at least nine of the Americans — all but the group's leader, Laura Silsby — clearly did not know they lacked the proper papers to remove 33 children from Haiti following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake and they should be immediately released.

"They came to Haiti to help. They came in solidarity," he said. "It is scandalous that they are being detained."

Prior to the closed hearing, Coq told reporters he would ask the judge to grant the detainees "provisional release," a type of bail without money posted. He said they should be allowed to leave Haiti until their trial, a date for which has not been established.

An investigating judge charged the Americans on Thursday with kidnapping for trying to take the 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without documentation.

Coq says Silsby knew she couldn't take the youngsters without proper paperwork. But he characterized the other nine missionaries as innocents caught up in actions they didn't understand.

The Baptist group, most of whose members are from two Idaho churches, insisted they were rescuing abandoned children and orphans after the Jan. 12 quake.

But at least 22 of the children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, have parents. Some of the parents told The Associated Press they gave them up willingly because the missionaries promised the children a better life.

Each of the missionaries is charged with one count of kidnapping, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and one of criminal association, punishable by three to nine years. Coq said the case was assigned a judge and a verdict could take three months.

"Obviously this is a matter for the Haitian judicial system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday.

Clinton's husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, now a special U.N. envoy for Haiti relief, met with President Rene Preval in Port-au-Prince on Friday, but said his visit had nothing to do with the detained Americans.

He did say Washington was monitoring their welfareClinton's husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, now a special U.N. envoy to Haiti, met with President Rene Preval in Port-au-Prince on Friday, but said his visit had nothing to do with the detained Americans.

Later, Clinton said the U.S. and Haitian governments should try to resolve the issue quickly.

"I think what's important now is that the government of Haiti and the government of the United States to get together and go through this because the government of Haiti, as I understand it, is not looking for a fight. They just want to protect children," he said during a visit to an AIDS clinic.

"The only thing I ask is both sides try to work through it as soon as possible."

Three national leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention sent a letter Friday to President Barack Obama urging him to "do everything within the authority of your office to secure a safe return home" for the detainees.

The leaders added that they could not "speak authoritatively about the motives and actions" of those detained, saying they went to Haiti on their own and weren't part of the Southern Baptist Convention's international relief efforts.

Silsby, who wanted to create an orphanage for Haitian children in the neighboring Dominican Republic, and the other nine went to Haiti after the earthquake to gather children for their project.

Most of the children were from the village of Callebas, where people said they handed the kids over because they couldn't feed or clothe them. Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives.

Silsby also said she believed she had all the necessary documents to take the children. The Dominican consul in Haiti, however, said he warned Silsby her mission would be considered child trafficking if she lacked adoption papers signed by Haitian officials.

Missionaries' Attorney Fired

By The Associated Press
Created February 6, 2010 at 9:36pm
http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-02-06/missionaries_attorney_fired
Retrieved February 7, 2010


Updated February 6, 2010 at 11:49pm
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The Haitian attorney for 10 U.S. Baptists charged with child kidnapping tried to bribe the missionaries' way out of jail and has been fired, the attorney who hired him said Saturday night.

The Haitian attorney, Edwin Coq, denied the allegation. He said the $60,000 he requested from the Americans' families was his fee.

Jorge Puello, the attorney in the neighboring Dominican Republic retained by relatives of the 10 American missionaries after their arrest last week, told The Associated Press that he fired Coq on Friday night. He had hired Coq to represent the detainees at Haitian legal proceedings.

Coq orchestrated "some kind of extortion with government officials" that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries, Puello charged.

"He had some people inside the court that asked him for money, and he was part of this scheme," Puello said.

Among the missionaries is Topeka firefighter Drew Culberth, 35, a member of Bethel Baptist Church in North Topeka.

Coq denied the requested $60,000 payment amounted to a bribe.

"I have worked for 10 people for four days working all hours," he said. "Look at what hour I'm working now, responding to these calls. I have the right to this money."

On Friday, Coq had told the AP that he was working for no fee.

Puello said Coq initially requested $10,000 but kept asking for bigger and bigger amounts. He said that when Coq reached $60,000, he said he could guarantee it would lead to the Americans' release.

A magistrate charged the group's members Thursday with child kidnapping and criminal association for trying to take 33 children out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti without the proper documents.

The Americans said they were a humanitarian mission to rescue orphans after Haiti's catastrophic Jan. 12 quake.

But at least 20 of the children had living parents. Some told the AP they gave the kids to the group because the missionaries promised to educate them at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and said they would allow parents to visit.

Coq said Thursday that the group's leader, Laura Silsby, of Meridian, Idaho, deceived the others by telling them she had the proper documents to remove the children from Haiti.

Puello raised similar concerns. He told the AP that he warned Silsby on Friday, the day the group was detained at the border, that she lacked the required papers and risked being arrested for child trafficking.

Asked if Silsby had deceived the other nine Baptists in assuring them she had the proper papers, Puello said, "I believe that is true."

He referred further questions on that issue to Sean Lankford, also of Meridian and the husband and father of two of the jailed missionaries.

Reached by the AP on Saturday night, Lankford wouldn't comment.

"I don't have time right now to talk to you," he said.

NBC News reported Saturday there are divisions within the jailed group.

It said some of the missionaries handed an NBC producer a note through bars of their holding cell earlier in the day that listed the names of all of them but Silsby and her former nanny and partner in the orphanage, Charisa Coulter.

"We only came as volunteers. We had nothing to do with any documents and have been lied to," NBC quoted the note as saying. "Please we fear our lives."

Photo:
Topekan Drew Culberth, 35, and three other Americans -- Nicole Lankford, 18, Carla Thompson, 53, and Corinna Lankford -- ride in a Haitian police truck from court to jail in Port-au-Prince, Friday. The group of 10 Americans were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without proper documents or government permission. A day earlier, they had been charged with child kidnapping and criminal association