Haiti frees US missionary at center of quake 'orphan' case
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) -- The head of a group of US missionaries arrested trying to leave Haiti with 33 children was freed on Monday, ending an emotionally charged case involving the highest US and Haitian authorities after the huge earthquake here.
Laura Silsby. AFP PHOTO Capping the 108-day ordeal, Laura Silsby's time behind bars since the group's January 29 detention was deemed punishment enough for the "irregular travel" charges against her, and she was to fly to Florida later Monday, her lawyer Shiller Roy told AFP.
Silsby was the leader of a group of 10 US Baptists stopped at the border with the Dominican Republic with children who were purported to be orphans, although Haitian authorities later determined all 33 of the youngsters had parents, with whom they were eventually reunited.
In the weeks following their arrest, the case shined a spotlight on the fate of young children surviving in the poverty-stricken nation after the catastrophic January 12 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people.
The case drew the attention of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and overshadowed critical relief efforts as the missionaries were originally charged with "kidnapping minors and criminal association" -- facing up to nine years in prison.
Eight members of the Idaho-based Baptist group called New Life Children's Refuge were however released in February after charges were reduced, and a ninth was released in March, leaving Silsby alone languishing in a Port-au-Prince prison.
Initially accused of child abduction, the charges against Silsby were later revised to "irregular travel" and prosecutors had asked on Thursday for a six-month prison term for her.
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