Haiti judge frees eight of 10 U.S. missionaries

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Eight American missionaries were freed from a jail yesterday, nearly three weeks after being charged with kidnapping for trying to take a group of children out of the quake-stricken country.

The eight, looking bedraggled and sweaty, walked out of the jail escorted by U.S. diplomats just after dusk. They waited until they were safely inside a white van before flashing smiles, waving and giving a thumbs-up to reporters.

Hours earlier, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil told The Associated Press that eight of the 10 missionaries were free to leave without bail or other conditions after parents testified they voluntarily handed their children over to them.

"The parents of the kids made statements proving that they can be released," he said, but he added that he still wants to question the group's leader and her nanny.

The group flew out of Haiti late yesterday, and a U.S. official said they were headed for Miami. Earlier, Kimberly Flowers at the U.S. Embassy would not confirm that the Americans were leaving on a U.S. government-chartered plane, citing privacy law.

The missionaries, mostly from two Baptist churches in Idaho, are accused of trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without proper documents. Their detentions came just as aid officials were urging a halt to shortcut adoptions in the earthquake's aftermath.

The missionaries say they were on a humanitarian mission to rescue child quake victims by taking them to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic and have denied accusations of trafficking.

Group leader Laura Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but reporters found that several of the children were handed over by their parents, who said they hoped the Baptists would give them a better life.

Saint-Vil said he wants to question Silsby and nanny Charisa Coulter about their visit to Haiti in December before the earthquake.