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Haiti Prosecutor Seeks Charges Against Prime Minister Ariel Henry In President's Assassination

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP/CNN) — Haiti's chief prosecutor has asked a judge to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in the slaying of the late President Jovenel Moïse and asked other officials to bar him from leaving the country.

The order filed Tuesday by Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude comes on the same day that he had requested Henry meet with him and explain why a key suspect in the assassination called him twice just hours after the killing.

Henry was due to testify on Tuesday morning.

That suspect, former Haitian Justice Ministry official Joseph Felix Badio, is believed to be on the run.

The late President Moïse was brutally killed during an attack on his private residence on July 7. The investigation into his killing is ongoing and has turned up dozens of suspects, including US and Colombian citizens.

Moïse's death prompted a weeks-long standoff over succession in the country's leadership between the recently nominated Henry -- a neurologist by training -- and then-acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph, before Henry ultimately took power.

In a series of tweets Saturday, Henry appeared to reference the case, writing, "I want to tell those who still have not understood, that the diversionary tactics to seed confusion and impede justice from doing its work serenely will not stand."

"The true culprits, the intellectual authors and those who ordered the odious assassination of President Jovenel Moïse will be identified, brought to justice and punished for their crime," he also wrote.

The early months of Henry's tenure have been troubled by continuing intrigue over the assassination, deadly gang violence in capital city Port-au-Prince, and a catastrophic August earthquake in the country's south that left more than 2,100 dead and injured more than 12,200.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.)

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