PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Ten American Christians were charged with kidnapping Thursday almost a week after they tried to smuggle a group of Haitian children out of the country, their lawyer said. The five men and five women from an Idaho-based charity were formally charged with kidnapping minors and criminal association, said lawyer Edwin Coq. They were detained late Friday after trying to drive a bus-load of 33 children over the border into the Dominican Republic. But the group has denied any ill-intentions, saying they merely trying to help children orphaned and abandoned by the January 12 quake. Government prosecutor Mazan Fortil said it was not yet clear if the 10 would be tried in the Haiti. We cannot say right now. We have to apply Haitian law. The case will be sent before a judicial panel, to open the investigation, Fortil said.