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Haitian judge frees eight Americans, holds two


    PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Eight American missionaries left a Haitian jail on Wednesday after a judge signed an order freeing them, but two of their colleagues were detained for further questioning on charges of kidnapping children.

    The 10 Americans, most of whom are members of a Baptist Church in Idaho, were arrested last month on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper documents after the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti.

    The judge found no evidence of criminal intent among the eight who were freed. But he ordered group leader Laura Silsby and another woman, Charisa Coulter, held for further questioning about their previous trips to Haiti.

    (Reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva; Editing by Jane Sutton and Stacey Joyce)