Hillary says imprisoned U.S. missionaries should be left to ‘Haitian justice system’
By The Daily Caller 02/06/10 at 12:08 pm
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, to discuss Haiti developments. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
For their efforts to try to rescue twenty-three children from earthquake-ravaged Haiti, where the death toll hovers around 200,000, ten U.S. missionaries are now facing child trafficking charges in an incident that continues to cast a shadow on international relief efforts.
And despite the island country’s essentially nonfunctional judicial system — which the United States
recently called “unacceptable” as prisoners languish in prisons without trial in often terrible conditions — it seems at least one U.S. diplomat has faith in the process.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this weekend that the incident was “unfortunate” but that this is the time to let the Haitian judicial system, such as it is, handle the case.
“It is something that a sovereign nation is pursuing, based on the evidence that it presented when the charges were announced,”
Clinton said matter-of-factly. “Obviously, this is a matter for the Haitian judicial system.”
Clinton promised that the U.S. would provide some measure of “support” in the incident, but did not elaborate.
Reports the USA Today:
The lawyer for 10 Baptist missionaries who tried to take three dozen children out of the country said Friday he would ask a judge to let his clients go free until their trial on kidnapping charges.
The missionaries appeared Friday before an investigative judge in a closed hearing, said Jean-Louis Martens, a senior Haitian judicial official.
They were escorted into the building one by one by Haitian police who covered their heads with a blue sheet so that they could not be photographed. None of the Americans responded to reporters’ shouted questions.
Edwin Coq, the lawyer representing the missionaries, said he would request “provisional release,” a type of bail without money posted, for the missionaries until their trial.
“I hope that they will be released today,” Coq said.
“Obviously this is a matter for the Haitian judicial system,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters Friday.
please pray for my friend 
You may take anything of mine that you want......as long as you can run faster than 830 feet per second. 
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