Eight Americans Released in Haiti

A Haiti judge ordered the release of eight Americans on Wednesday.

One of the American missionaries held in Haiti on charges of kidnapping children in the wake of last month's massive earthquake waves from the back seat of a van after they were released from jail on Feb. 17, and driven to the airport. Eight of the 10 Ame Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

A Haiti judge ordered the release of eight Americans on Wednesday. The eight Americans were part of the group of 10 Baptists who are accused of kidnapping Haitian children following the earthquake.

The leaders of the group, Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter are still being held for further investigation.

“Eight of my clients will be set free. The judge wants to question two of my clients because they were in Haiti before the earthquake,” lawyer Aviol Fleurant, told AFP.

The five men and five woman were arrested trying to cross into the Dominican Republic 17 days after the earthquake, with a bus of 33 children, aged 2 to 12, without proper permission.

The missionaries from the Idaho-base Baptist Church claimed that they only had good intentions and that they wanted to place the Haitian children in an orphanage they run in the Dominican Republic in order to care for them and protect them against child smuggling, which became more prevalent after the Jan. 12 quake.