Dominican police investigating death of Haitian ex-prosecutor in Santo Domingo

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The body of former Port-au-Prince prosecutor Claudy Gassant, 56, was found yesterday in his home in the Dominican capital with stab wounds to his neck.

The Dominican Republic Police assured Sunday that it is carrying out investigations to determine the causes of death of a former Haitian official found dead in his residence in Santo Domingo.

“We do not rule out any hypothesis about the death, so the investigations remain open, and we are waiting for the autopsy,” National Police spokeswoman Ana Jimenez Cruceta told Dominican media.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Haiti

Jimenez Cruceta said that “several people have been arrested” in connection with the incident, although she did not give their names or their relationship, if any, with Gassant.

The spokeswoman added that the Dominican Police “is willing” to work with any Haitian institution if required to clarify the circumstances in which the former official died.

Haitian media have reported that Gassant had allegedly planned to travel yesterday to Miami, United States, to lecture on Haiti’s insecurity situation.

The former prosecutor, who was married, served during part of the government of the assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

Former Dominican presidential spokesman Rafael Núñez wrote today on his Twitter account that the country’s justice authorities must “sharpen their aim” in the case of Gassant, since he was a personal friend of Moise, who was shot dead in the early hours of July 7 by a commando who entered his residence in Port-au-Prince and also wounded his wife.