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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Haiti judge: No decision yet on missionaries’ charges

Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The judge investigating 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping for trying to take a busload of children out of Haiti says a decision has not yet been made on whether to drop charges against any of them. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil tells the Associated Press that neither the legal fate of still-detained group leader Laura Silsby nor her nine freed compatriots has been decided. The office of U.S. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho — home state of most of the missionaries — and the U.S. State Department said last week that charges against the freed Americans had been dropped. However, Saint-Vil on Monday called such pronouncements premature. He says he is waiting for prosecutors to finish a review and will then make his final decision.