Haiti seeks 'Baby Doc' corruption trial

A judge will decide whether former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier will be tried on charges that include corruption and embezzlement for allegedly pilfering the treasury before he was deposed in 1986.

A judge questioned the former dictator known as “Baby Doc” in an hours-long, closed-door court session, defence lawyer Gervais Charles said.

The decision to move towards a trial makes clear that whatever Duvalier’s reasons for returning to Haiti on Sunday, the government is poised to take the opportunity to seek justice for his 15-year regime, widely regarded as brutal and corrupt.

Mr Charles said the case was now in the hands of a judge of instruction who would decide whether there was enough evidence to go to trial, a process that can take up to three months.

Several hundred Duvalier supporters gathered outside the court yesterday, burning tyres, chanting slogans and calling for the arrest of President Rene Preval, then cheering as Duvalier left for his hotel under police escort.

Earlier, some supporters had tried to block streets with overturned dustbins and rocks to keep police from taking Duvalier from his hotel to the court.

There are no signs of widespread support for Duvalier, however. 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.

Haiti’s system allows for pre-trial detention, but Duvalier was allowed to remain free, though he cannot leave the country. His long-time companion Veronica Roy said on Monday that Duvalier expected his trip from France, where he has lived in exile, would last three days.

“If he has to leave (the country), he will ask and he will leave,” Mr Charles said. “As of now, he doesn’t even have a passport.”

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.

His arrival on Sunday was a surprise for the long-impoverished country and comes as Haiti struggles 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 last year.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have urged the Haitian government to arrest Duvalier for widespread abuses.

London-based 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.

Bobby Duval, a former soccer star who was starved and tortured during the 17 months he was held without charge by Duvalier in the notorious Fort Dimanche, was outraged that Haitian authorities did not immediately arrest the former dictator.

“He is a murderer and a thief,” said Mr Duval, who now runs an athletics training school for children. “A country that has no memory will repeat its same mistakes. I thought we were past that but I guess not since he hasn’t been arrested yet.”

But Chal Christen, 56, waved a flag of Duvalier’s political party – stored away since the one-time “president for life” was deposed in a popular uprising and forced into exile nearly 25 years ago.

“We don’t have food, our houses collapsed, our children can’t go to school. It’s Preval that is the dictator,” Mr Christen said.

“We want Duvalier for president. Under him we ate well, we were safe.”

Fenel Alexi, a 31-year-old mechanic, denounced both Duvalier and Mr Preval, a former anti-Duvalier activist.

“The citizens of this country have endured so much crime,” he said. “We haven’t had a president who hasn’t committed crimes.”

Duvalier was removed from the upmarket hotel yesterday after a private meeting with top Haitian judicial officials in his room as dozens of Haitian National Police officers, some in riot gear, were posted inside and around the hotel.

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at 19 following the death of his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.

The father and son presided over one of the most brutal chapters in Haitian history, a period when a secret police force known as the Tonton Macoute tortured and killed opponents.

The private militia of sunglasses-wearing thugs enforced the Duvalier dynasty’s absolute power and lived off extortion.

At Fort Dimanche, a fortress prison, Haitians were executed or died of malnutrition during the 1957-1986 Duvalier dictatorships.

Duvalier has also been accused of pilfering millions from public funds and spiriting them out of the country to Swiss banks, though he denies stealing from Haiti.