February 10, 2010 in Nation/World

Parents say they released kids

Americans seek dismissal of kidnapping charges
Kirsten Johnson Associated Press
 
Tags:HaitiHaiti earthquakemissionaries
Associated Press photo

Corinna Lankford, center, of Meridian, Idaho, is escorted by a Haitian police officer and followed by attorney Aviol Fluerant as they arrive at court in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.
(Full-size photo)

Earthquake toll reaches 230,000

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti’s government has raised the death toll for the Jan. 12 earthquake to 230,000 from 212,000 and says more bodies remain uncounted. The government initially estimated 150,000 dead on Jan. 24.

 The new figure gives the quake the same death toll as the 2004 Asian tsunami.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans’ lawyer said.

The parents’ testimony means no law was broken and “we can’t talk any more about trafficking of human beings,” attorney Aviol Fleurant told reporters.

He said he was confident the judge will dismiss the case.

Nine of the Americans, most from an Idaho church group, have now been interviewed by the judge, who is to decide whether they will stand trial. The judge did not speak with reporters.

Flaurent said the Americans would be back in court today.

The Americans were charged with kidnapping and criminal association last week for trying to take 33 children into the neighboring Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without proper documentation.

The Baptist missionaries say they were heading to a Dominican orphanage following Haiti’s devastating quake and had only good intentions. Their leader, Laura Silsby of Meridian, Idaho, told the Associated Press the day after their arrest that the children were obtained from orphanages and relatives.

However, the parents of some of the children told the AP last week that they turned their youngsters over to the group. The parents said they did so willingly after the missionaries promised the kids would be educated and relatives could visit them.

Silsby was the only American in the case not to appear in court Tuesday. The lawyer who represented the missionaries until last week said that Silsby deceived the rest of the group about having proper paperwork and that everyone but her should go free.

The Americans’ original Haitian lawyer was fired late Friday. The Dominican attorney who had hired him claimed the Haitian attempted to bribe the detainees’ way out of jail without their knowledge. The Haitian lawyer denied that.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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