The leader of a Haitian gang that kidnapped 17 American and Canadian missionaries on the eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince last October was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia.
Germine Joly, 29, who is better known as “Yonyon,” was charged with conspiracy to commit hostage taking for his role in the armed kidnapping of 16 U.S. citizens in Haiti. The victims, including five children, were Christian missionaries serving in Haiti. Most of them were held captive for 61 days by the gang 400 Mawozo. The gang’s No. 2 demanded $1 million in ransom per victim and threatened to kill the missionaries, who worked for Ohio-based Christian Aid Missionaries, if the ransom was not paid. An undisclosed ransom was eventually paid.
Joly was transferred to the United States last week from a Haitian prison on an international arrest warrant in connection to firearms trafficking in a separate case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He has since been detained in the District of Columbia and is scheduled to return to court next week for an arraignment.
