Americans face kidnap charges
Source: Agencies |
February 6, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TEN American Baptist missionaries are facing kidnapping charges in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country, and the lawyer for all the defendants is putting the blame on the group's leader.
Attorney Edwin Coq said Laura Silsby knew the group couldn't remove the youngsters without proper paperwork, while he characterized the other nine missionaries as unknowingly being caught up in actions they didn't understand.
"I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border. But Silsby did," Coq said on Thursday after a magistrate charged the 10 at a closed hearing.
The missionaries were taken back to the holding cells where they have been held since last Saturday.
The missionaries' detention has raised concerns among other countries including France, whose foreign ministry yesterday urged the Haitian government to quickly set up a bilateral commission to look into adoption procedures. French families have taken in 277 Haitian children since the quake.
Family members of the detained Americans released a statement late Thursday saying they were concerned about their relatives.
"Obviously, we do not know details about what happened and didn't happen on this mission," the statement said. "However, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to Haiti to help, not hurt, these children."
Attorney Edwin Coq said Laura Silsby knew the group couldn't remove the youngsters without proper paperwork, while he characterized the other nine missionaries as unknowingly being caught up in actions they didn't understand.
"I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border. But Silsby did," Coq said on Thursday after a magistrate charged the 10 at a closed hearing.
The missionaries were taken back to the holding cells where they have been held since last Saturday.
The missionaries' detention has raised concerns among other countries including France, whose foreign ministry yesterday urged the Haitian government to quickly set up a bilateral commission to look into adoption procedures. French families have taken in 277 Haitian children since the quake.
Family members of the detained Americans released a statement late Thursday saying they were concerned about their relatives.
"Obviously, we do not know details about what happened and didn't happen on this mission," the statement said. "However, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to Haiti to help, not hurt, these children."
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