In a controversial ruling in Haiti, a judge investigating the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has indicted former first lady Martine Moïse and ex-Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph, accusing them of involvement in the killing. Court documents accuse Martine Moïse, who was shot and seriously injured in the 2021 attack, of conspiring with Joseph to kill her husband, and suggest she was even plotting to assume the presidency herself. The former chief of Haiti’s National Police is also among some 50 people recently charged.

Martine Moïse and Claude Joseph have denounced U.S.-backed acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry for weaponizing Haiti’s justice system to persecute his opponents. Henry has himself been implicated in the assassination plot, including by a former judge who previously oversaw the investigation. Political turmoil and bloody gang violence has gripped Haiti amid mounting protests to remove Henry from power.