Haiti's Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) says the government violated judicial independence when it sent 18 suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse to the United States without the approval of the investigating judge.

In a statement on Tuesday, September 22, the council said the transfer was carried out outside the procedures that apply to suspects under the authority of Judge Jean Denis Cyprien. “When an investigating judge is properly seized of a case, any transfer of an indicted person falls under the judge's authority and requires prior authorization, even in the event of an extradition request,” it said.

Haitian media reported that Judge Cyprien issued an order on September 15 barring any transfer of defendants in the case without his authorization, and that copies went to the justice minister, the police and the prison administration. The 18 defendants, 17 former Colombian soldiers and former Haitian official Joseph Félix Badio, were flown to Miami on September 20 aboard a U.S. military aircraft.

Justice Minister Patrick Pélissier said the transfer was made under extradition mechanisms between Haiti and the United States and would help establish the facts and protect the proceedings from outside influence. He did not name the Haitian legal provision that authorized it.

The council's statement is its own reading of the constitution and of procedure. No court has ruled the transfer unconstitutional.

The dispute highlights the gap between the two investigations. In Haiti, the case has gone five years without a trial, slowed by changes of judges, threats and insecurity. In the United States, a jury convicted four men in May, others have pleaded guilty, and the trial of pastor Christian Emmanuel Sanon is under way in Miami.