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Haiti's ex-dictator faces answering for crimes against humanity

By Earl Bousquet: 0 Comments Print E-mail China.org.cn, January 25, 2011

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Efforts are well under way to have Haiti's ex-dictator Jean Francois "Baby Doc" Duvalier tried at home for crimes against his people – and also prosecuted under international law for Crimes Against Humanity.

Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier (2nd, R) is surrounded in a hotel in Port-Au-Prince, capital of Haiti, Jan, 16, 2011. Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier returned Sunday surprisingly to Port-au-Prince after long exile as the island nation is still coping with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake one year ago. [Wan Pei/Xinhua]

The former "President for Life" is already facing legal prosecution in Haitian courts, but former victims of his 15-year brutal rule and human rights campaigners at home and abroad have started shifting legal levers to build an international case against the ex-dictator.

Duvalier unexpectedly landed in Haiti on January 18 after 25 years in exile in France. But he was soon arrested and charged on multiple counts filed by State Prosecutors and private individuals.

Questioned in his hotel room two days after his arrival by Judge Gabriel Ambrise and Chief Prosecutor Aristidas Auguste, Duvalier, 59, was taken away and charged with corruption and embezzlement, including theft and misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds during his rule from 1971 to 1986.

Duvalier called a press conference three days after his arrival, at which he begged for "forgiveness" for "past mistakes" and said he had "deep sorrow for all those who say they were victims of my government".

But even as Duvalier spoke, the Haitian courts were processing the several cases filed against him.

Thousands of former victims – in Haiti and exiled abroad – insist Duvalier must be tried for repression that took tens of thousands of lives, forced hundreds of thousands into exile and featured multitudes of serious crimes against humanity.

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