Haitian police say they have arrested and charged four people in connection with the murder of the president of the Port-au-Prince Bar Association, Monferrier Dorva, whose killing late last month was condemned by the Bishops of the Haitian Episcopal Conference.
On Thursday, Ducarmel Gabriel, the Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince carried out the first hearing since their arrest on September 10.
The police have named the four suspects as Mackender Fils-Aimé, Modler Senegeau, aka “Abidy”, Valéry Dort and Vilpique Dunès.
A police statement said that the four men were questioned in relation to the murder on August 28 and that warrants of committal were issued against them.
It said that they have since been transferred to the National Penitentiary on charges of murder, complicity of murder, armed robberies and criminal conspiracy.
“Other individuals are actively sought by the national police,” the statement noted. The Bishops of the Haitian Episcopal Conference had said that the assassination of Dorval, underscored the security situation in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
The Association said that it has no motive for the murder of its president but said “Dorval had recently taken public positions on hot topics of the day, without knowing for the moment whether this murder (or this execution) is linked to his statements”.
Meanwhile, the police said they had also detained nine people for their alleged involvement in the disappearance of photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur in 2017, the murder of Francis Cétoute and the rape of a 17-year-old girl on September 7.
