'Baby Doc' Duvalier faces charges in Haiti

A lawyer for Jean-Claude Duvalier says the former Haitian dictator is facing accusations of corruption and embezzlement for allegedly pilfering the treasury before his 1986 ouster.

Defence attorney Gervais Charles says the case is now in the hands of a judge of instruction who will decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial.

That process can take up to three months.

Duvalier left court after a day of questions yesterday and headed back to his hotel.

Haitian police had earlier in the day led the ex-dictator known as 'Baby Doc' out of his hotel and taken him to court without saying whether he was being charged with crimes committed under his brutal regime.

Duvalier, 59, was calm and did not say anything, ignoring questions from journalists, as he was led away to cheers from some and jeers from others.

Spectators fill court

The SUV drove in a convoy of police vehicles to a courthouse, even as dozens of Duvalier supporters tried to block streets with overturned trash bins and rocks to try to prevent the former dictator from going to prison.

The courthouse was thronged with spectators and journalists, who were not permitted to enter to view the proceedings.

Several hundred Duvalier supporters gathered outside the court, burning tyres, chanting slogans and calling for the arrest of President René Préval.

Fifty-six-year-old Chal Christen waved a flag of Duvalier's political party - one he said he'd had 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 Préval that is the dictator," Christen said. "We want Duvalier for president. Under him, we ate well, we were safe."

Fenel Alexi, a 31-year-old mechanic, watched the scene and denounced both Duvalier and Préval.

"The citizens of this country have endured so much crime," Alexi said. "We haven't had a president who hasn't committed crimes."

Duvalier was forced into exile in 1986 in a mass uprising and had been living in exile in France. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have urged the Haitian government to arrest him for widespread abuses.

Just a start

Yesterday, 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.

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his father, Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. The father and son presided over one of the darkest chapters in Haitian history, a period when thuggish government secret police force known as the Tonton Macoute tortured and killed opponents.

The younger Duvalier had not yet publicly commented on why he came back to Haiti. His companion, Roy, told reporters he would stay three days.

His return 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 an earthquake.