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Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks during a press conference in Port-au-Prince on August 14, 2021, after an earthquake struck the southwest peninsula of the country. - A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti early Saturday, killing at least 29 people and toppling buildings in the disaster-plagued Caribbean nation still recovering from a devastating 2010 quake. The epicenter of the shaking, which rattled homes and sent terrified locals scrambling for safety, was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) by road west of the center of the densely populated capital Port-au-Prince.
Haiti's former Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent calls for the resignation of the country's Prime Minister Ariel Henry due to the latter's alleged connection to the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise.
Vincent used to be in charge of overseeing the murder investigation of Moise, but after he and Haiti's top country prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude started looking into Henry's possible involvement, both of them were fired from their jobs.
Henry said that Vincent and Claude were fired for breaking the law, which forbids them from prosecuting top officials without the permission of the head of the state.
However, Vincent believes that he was fired for refusing to sack Claude. In the end, Haiti's Interior Minister Liszt Quitel was the one that fired Claude.
Ariel Henry has ties to the mastermind behind the assassination
Vincent revealed that the ongoing murder investigation into the death of Moise reached Henry on Sept. 14. As a result, Claude said that he would ask for charges against the prime minister.
Claude cited evidence of phone calls between Henry and one of the masterminds behind the assassination. However, Henry claimed that he doesn't have any recollection of the alleged phone call.
The prime minister also said that he had nothing to do with Moise's death. The former president was gunned down in his home in July.
Rockefeller Vincent in hiding after getting fired
Vincent, who is currently in hiding amid fears that Henry would have him killed, said he was surprised by the prime minister's decision.
After all, if there are allegations of crime and murder, the common practice is for the accused to tender his resignation and not to fire those investigating his involvement.
"In all serious countries, once you are implicated in such an affair, the Prime Minister should offer his resignation. He should resign. And we are still waiting for him to resign. Because on the night of the president's death, a few hours later... He had phone conversations with the president's assassin," Vincent told CNN.
Following Moise's death, Henry assumed the role of prime minister weeks later.
Since Haiti doesn't have a president right now, Henry will also assume the role until next year's presidential election.
Quitel has also taken over Vincent's job, so he's doing double duty as the head of Haiti's interior and justice ministries.
Last week, Quitel said that the investigations led by Vincent didn't provide them with answers regarding Moise's assassination.
Phone operator confirmed Ariel Henry's link to murder mastermind
He also said that there is no proof that Henry spoke with the mastermind behind the former president's murder.
However, records obtained from phone operator Digicel confirmed that Henry spoke to Joseph Felix Badio, a justice ministry official accused of planning Moise's assassination.
Henry and Badio spoke on the phone twice shortly after Moise's murder. Geolocation also placed Badio near the scene of the crime while he was talking to Henry, according to the BBC.
As for Claude, he was replaced by Frantz Louis Juste, a prosecutor who oversaw the case involving the deaths of several children in a fire at an orphanage last year, according to the Associated Press.
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