Exiled dictator wants political role in Haiti
“He will stay in Haiti forever, it’s his country. And take part in politics. That’s his right. A politician never dies,” said lawyer Reynold Georges.
He was speaking as Duvalier, who stunned Haitians by returning to the Caribbean nation on Sunday after almost 25 years in exile, remained holed up in his hotel room yesterday.
The former Haitian dictator plans to remain in his Caribbean homeland even though authorities want him to leave the crisis-staggered country, Georges said.
The defence attorney said it is Duvalier’s right to remain in Haiti, but that he is free to go. He stressed Haiti’s government has not ordered Duvalier to return to France.
“He is free to do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants,” Georges said of the once-feared strongman. “It is his right to live in his country. He is going to stay.”
Georges said a Haitian judge who met with the former leader, who apparently does not have a valid Haitian passport, asked him when he planned to leave. “They want him to leave,” he insisted.
Duvalier faces accusations of corruption and embezzlement for allegedly pilfering the treasury before the 1986 heave.
Haitian authorities moved toward trying Duvalier, known as “Baby Doc”, for alleged corruption and embezzlement during his brutal 15-year rule by opening an investigation on Tuesday.
Judges questioned him for hours behind closed doors in a court in Haiti’s capital, defence attorney Gervais Charles said.
A judge of instruction will decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial, Charles said. The process that can take up to three months.
Haiti’s system allows for pretrial detention, but Duvalier was allowed to stay free and returned to his hotel room under police escort following the questioning.
His longtime companion Veronique Roy had earlier said Duvalier expected his trip from France, where he has lived in exile, would last three days.
There are no signs of widespread support for Duvalier. Demonstrations on his behalf have been relatively small by Haiti standards.
More than half the nation’s people are too young to have lived through his government.
Duvalier has been accused in the past in Haiti of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in public money and overseeing the torture and killing of political enemies.
He was not in handcuffs as he arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday, nor was he handcuffed when he left.
His arrival last Sunday was a surprise for a long-impoverished country that is struggling to work through a dire political crisis following the problematic November 28 first-round presidential election, as well as a cholera epidemic and a troubled recovery from the devastating earthquake of a year ago.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have urged the Haitian government to arrest Duvalier for widespread abuses. Amnesty International issued a statement praising what it called “the arrest” of Duvalier but said it was just a start.
“If true justice is to be done in Haiti, the Haitian authorities need to open a criminal investigation into Duvalier’s responsibility for the multitude of human rights abuses that were committed under his rule including torture, arbitrary detentions, rape, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions,” the group said.
