Judge allows eight charged with child kidnapping to leave Haiti after parents testify they gave up their children voluntarily

Eight American missionaries accused of trying to take 33 children out of Haiti landed in Miami early today after being freed by authorities in the earthquake-stricken country.

They were allowed to return to the US after parents testified they had given up their children voluntarily because they believed the Americans would give them a better life. Two other members of the party remain in Haiti for further questioning.

The group had faced child kidnapping charges and was rebuked by a senior Haitian justice official after detention for most was ended by a judge. “They know they broke the law”, said Claudy Gassent.

The missionaries were charged nearly three weeks ago but most, looking bedraggled and sweat-stained, left jail last night. They were accompanied by US diplomats and were flown out of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on a US air force cargo plane.

“The parents gave their kids away voluntarily,” said Judge Bernard Saint-Vil, explaining his decision to allow them to leave the country without bail. He still wants to question the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny Charisa Coulter because they had visited Haiti prior to the quake to enquire about obtaining orphans, he said.

The missionaries were charged with child kidnapping for trying to take the children to the Dominican Republic on 29 January without proper documents. Their detentions came as aid officials were urging a halt to “short-cut” adoptions in the wake of the earthquake.

The missionaries, most of whom are from two Baptist churches in Idaho, had denied the charges, saying they were on a “do-it-yourself” humanitarian mission. Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but reporters found that several of the children were handed over to the group by their parents.

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/18/us-missionaries-jailed-haiti-return