Haitian judge: No decision made yet on whether to drop charges against 10 US missionaries

Haiti judge: No decision on missionaries’ charges

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Haitian judge investigating 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping for trying to take a busload of children out of the country says no decision has been made on whether to drop any charges.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil tells The Associated Press that he is still considering the legal fates of detained group leader Laura Silsby and her nine freed compatriots.

The office of U.S. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho — home state of most of the missionaries — and the U.S. State Department said last week that the charges had been dropped against the nine freed Americans.

However, Saint-Vil on Monday called such pronouncements premature. He says he is waiting for prosecutors to finish a review and will then make his final decision.