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Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Feb 9, 2010 Haitians whose children wound up with 10 Americans charged with kidnapping here told a judge Tuesday that they gave permission for the kids to be taken, a lawyer in the case said. Aviol Fleurant, a lawyer for the American Baptist missionaries, said two parents, representing a total of eight children, including a three-month-old, appeared before the judge investigating the case. He identified the parents as Chesnel Regilus and Desilian Moletite Fenelun. "They told the judge that they gave the Americans an authorization," said Fleurant, who is representing the Americans after their previous Haitian lawyer quit after being accused of trying to bribe the judge. Fleurant said the authorization was given through a Haitian pastor. "The Americans acted with their hearts," he said. Before the hearing, one of the parents who did not want to give his name said as he arrived at the court in Port-au-Prince that he handed his child over because the boy needed treatment. His 15-year-old son "fractured his foot in the earthquake" that devastated much of Haiti last month, he said. "The house was partially destroyed," the man from the Delmas area of the capital said. He added that his son remained at SOS Children's Villages, a charitable organization taking care of the 33 kids the Americans sought to transport across the border. The 10 Americans were arrested on the border with the Dominican Republic on January 29 as they traveled with the busload of children. They were charged last week with kidnapping and conspiracy. They have claimed they meant no ill intent in taking children they thought were orphans, but some of the children's parents have said they had reached a deal to give away their kids. On Monday, the judge questioned the leader of the Baptist group, Laura Silsby, who said afterward that she was "trusting God" for the case's outcome. The other nine Americans were expected back in court on Wednesday. The case has distracted attention from the stumbling efforts to help Haitians rebuild their lives amid the ruins left by the January 12 quake, which killed more than 200,000 people and left more than one million homeless.
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