A U.S. federal court sentenced a former Haitian senator to life in prison on Tuesday (Dec. 19) for his role in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, the Associated Press reports.

Joseph Joel John, a Haitian citizen, was extradited from Jamaica to the United States in 2022. The U.S. Justice Department charged him with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap. 

In October, John, a political opponent of the slain president, pleaded guilty in a Miami courtroom. He admitted  to taking part in the plot against Moïse, including providing rental vehicles to conspirators, attempting to obtain weapons and making introductions to gangs “whose support [the defendants] sought.”

In addition to pleading guilty, John promised to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for a reduced sentence, which the judge said he would consider at a later time.

On July 7, 2021, gunmen killed Moïse in a late night ambush at his Port-au-Prince residence. His wife, Martine Moïse, was shot but survived the assault by pretending to be dead. She said the killers searched her husband’s files and fled after taking documents, the president’s wife told The New York Times in the weeks after the assassination.

John is the third of 11 suspects to be sentenced in the United States for what U.S. prosecutors say was a plot, developed in Haiti and Florida, to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse.

The U.S. federal court also gave life sentences to Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar and retired Colombian army officer Germán Alejandro Rivera García for their roles in the assassination.

Joseph Vincent, a dual Haitian-American citizen, pleaded guilty in October for participating in the conspiracy against Moïse. He was a former informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The court is scheduled to sentence him in February 2024. Meanwhile, seven more defendants are awaiting trial next year in Florida.