A HAITIAN businessman has been sentenced to life in prison for helping Colombia mercenaries assassinate former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. 

On Friday, Haitian-Chilean businessman, Rodolphe Jaar, 51, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Miami. 

Judge Jose E Martinez handed down the sentence to Jaar for his role in helping Colombian mercenaries get weapons to assassinate the former Haitian president at his home. 

Jaar is the first person to be convicted and sentenced in an alleged plot by conspirators in Haiti and Florida to gain lucrative contracts under the new administration once Mr Moïse was killed. 

Jaar pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States. 

He received the maximum sentence, despite pleading guilty and offering to help with the investigation in the hope that he would receive a shorter sentence. 

An additional, 10 other defendants are currently awaiting trial in the United States over the murder of Mr Moïse.

Mr Moïse was fatally shot at his home in the hills of Port-au-Prince early in July 2021. 

His wife, Martine Moïse, 47, was also injured when attackers stormed their home.

Mr Moïse, had been the president since 2017, and was shot multiple times and died at the scene.

He was 53.

The economic, social and political stability in Haiti has deteriorated rapidly since the assassination of former the former president.

Last October, the United Nations warned that a catastrophic level of hunger is being detected in Haiti for the first time ever.

Almost 100,000 children under the age of five who are already suffering from severe acute malnutrition -also known as severe wasting – are especially vulnerable to the ongoing cholera outbreak affecting Haiti, UNICEF has warned. 

Violence and unrest continues to plague the capital, as armed groups seek to take control of the Caribbean country. 

Many citizens have lost access to clean water, their jobs, food  and health services.