Image by Haiti National Police
A US federal jury last week found a former Haitian gang leader guilty of organizing the kidnapping of 16 American Christian missionaries and one Canadian missionary in October 2021.
According to a news release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Germine Joly, leader of the Haitian 400 Mawozo gang, orchestrated the kidnapping of 17 Mennonite missionaries from the Ohio-based missionary organization Christian Aid Missionaries. AP News reported that he was serving a life sentence in a Haitian prison at the same time.
Directed by Joly, members of the 400 Mawozo gang robbed the group, held them at gunpoint, and demanded $1 million ransom per captive. The group included 12 adults and five children, including two aged 6, two aged 3, and one aged 8 months.
The DOJ stated that the gang demanded ransom on social media, threatening to kill the missionaries if ransom was not paid. The gang also offered to release the hostages in return for Joly’s release from prison.
Two hostages were released in November 2021 after suffering life-threatening health conditions, and three more were released in December 2021 after the gang received a $350,000 ransom. The remaining missionaries later escaped.
AP News reported that Joly was convicted of organizing the kidnapping in a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., May 16, despite his denial of all attachment to the gang. He will be sentenced later this year.
Joly is already serving a 35-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last year to weapons smuggling and ransom laundering related to the kidnapping. The Haitian government extradited Joly to the US in 2022.
Interim US Attorney for the District of Washington Jeanine Pirro said in the release that evidence demonstrated that Joly “leveraged American Christian missionaries as bargaining chips to try to secure his own release from a Haitian prison.”
“When you commit crimes against Americans in other countries, it makes no difference where you are — we are coming for you,” she said. “Justice may not always be swift but it is certain.”
