Haiti judge frees eight US missionaries

Eight American missionaries are freed from a Haitian jail, nearly three weeks after being charged with kidnapping a group of children out of the quake-struck country.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI // Eight American missionaries were freed from a Haitian jail yesterday, nearly three weeks after being charged with child kidnapping for trying to take a group of children out of the quake-struck country. The eight - looking bedraggled and sweat-soaked - walked out of the Haitian jail escorted by US diplomats just after dusk. They waited until they were safely inside a white van before flashing smiles and giving a thumbs up to reporters.

Hours earlier, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said that eight of the 10 missionaries were free to leave without bail or other conditions after parents testified they voluntarily handed their children over to the missionaries. "The parents of the kids made statements proving that they can be released," he said, adding that he still wants to question the group's leader and her nanny. Kimberly Flowers, from the US Embassy, would not confirm that the Americans were leaving on a US government chartered plane, citing privacy law. She said that as US citizens, they were entitled to evacuation flights.

The group flew out of Haiti last night, said defence attorney Aviol Fleurant. Their destination was not immediately known. Reporters were denied access to the Port-au-Prince airport tarmac where the released detainees were taken. The missionaries, most from two Baptist churches in Idaho, are accused of trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic on January 29 without proper documents.

Their detentions came just as aid officials were urging a halt to shortcut adoptions in the wake of the earthquake. The missionaries say they were on a humanitarian mission to rescue child quake victims by taking them to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic and have denied accusations of trafficking. Group leader Laura Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but reporters found that several of the children were handed over to the group by their parents, who said they hoped the Baptists would give them a better life.

Judge Saint-Vil said he still wants to question Ms Silsby and nanny Charisa Coulter about their visit to Haiti in December before the earthquake, but he asked for Ms Coulter to be hospitalised because of her diabetes. Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Coulter of Boise, Idaho, briefly received treatment but was then taken back to jail. "We are very pleased that Paul, Silas, Drew, and Steve have been released by the Haitian court," said Caleb Stegall, a Kansas district attorney who has been helping some of the defendants.

"Their families are relieved and anxious to have them safely home, and we are turning all of our energies toward bringing them back as safely and quickly as possible," Gary Lissade, the attorney for American Jim Allen, said he expected the charges to be dropped against the eight. Relatives in the US received the news of the judge's decision cautiously. "Until I know they're on a plane on their way home, it's hard to react," said Drew Ham, assistant pastor of a Baptist church in Meridian.

Ms Silsby's sister, Kim Barton, said learning that her sister could not leave Haiti was difficult. "At this point I don't have any comment. I don't know any more than you do," Ms Barton said. The group early had been embarrassed by revelations that a man who briefly served as their legal adviser and spokesman in the Dominican Republic is wanted on people-smuggling charges in the United States and El Salvador. US Marshals say they are hunting for Jorge Puello, who was already being pursued by authorities in the Dominican Republic on an Interpol warrant out of El Salvador, where police say he led a ring that lured young women and girls into prostitution.

He also had an outstanding warrant for a US parole violation. Mr Puello said he volunteered to help the missionaries after they were jailed and said he never met any of them before they were detained. Mr Puello - who surged into the spotlight by providing food, medicine and legal assistance to the jailed Americans - acknowledged on Tuesday that he is named in a 2003 federal indictment out of Vermont that accuses him of smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States.

He said he is innocent of the accusations. Mr Puello said he was in Panama and preparing to return to El Salvador to fight the charges against him there. His whereabouts could not be confirmed. Mr Puello's involvement with the Americans began to unravel when authorities in El Salvador noted his resemblance to the suspect in the sex trafficking case. He acknowledged on Monday that he is in fact the suspect but said he was wrongly accused and will fight the charges.

* AP