A Haitian judge had to postpone Thursday’s hearing of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. He was not presented in court. The court in Port-au-Prince has accepted a request by attorneys for Jean-Claude Duvalier who argued that the appearance fell on the day of the 27th anniversary of the fall of his regime, which could lead to unrest in the streets if the charges against him were dropped.
Upon his return to Haiti after 25 years of exile in France, in 2011, the Haitian authorities have opened an investigation into alleged violations of human rights and other crimes associated with his reign of 15 years. Thirty people complained against Jean-Claude Duvalier for the years they spent in prison at Fort Dimanche, where the regime imprisoned its political opponents, many of whom were tortured and murdered. A judge has recommended in January 2012 that Jean-Claude Duvalier be accused of embezzlement of public funds, since there were prescriptions for other crimes. The plaintiffs, supported by international organizations, however, urge the Haitian justice not to drop the charges.
Now aged 61, Jean-Claude Duvalier was ousted in 1986 by a popular revolt. He returned to Haiti in January 2011 after 25 years of exile in France. He said that he returned home to “help” in the wake of the earthquake that devastated the country a year earlier. In 2007, Jean-Claude Duvalier had a speech on the Haitian airwaves to apologize to the Haitian people for mistakes during his reign that began in 1971, after the death of his father, the dictator François Duvalier, known as “Papa Doc.”
The outgoing President Rene Preval was assured at that time that Jean-Claude Duvalier, accused of embezzlement during the exercise of his power, will not escape justice. Funds that are presumed to have been misused by Jean-Claude Duvalier, disguised as social work, are estimated at approximately $100 million.
The dictatorship of “Baby Doc” has been marked by political repression and a regime of terror carried out on an iron hand by a secret police whose members were known as “Tonton Macoutes.”
Ousted by the Haitian people, Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country Feb. 7, 1986 on a U.S. Air Force flight.
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