Haiti prosecutor charges "Baby Doc" with graft, theft

[cali]

PORT-AU-PRINCE | Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:02pm EST

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A Haitian prosecutor on Tuesday formally charged former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier with corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other alleged crimes committed during his 1971-1986 rule.

"His fate is now in the hands of the investigating judge. We have brought charges against him," Port-au-Prince Chief Prosecutor Aristidas Auguste told Reuters.

The charges must now be investigated by the judge who will decide whether a judicial case should go ahead.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70H4BJ20110118

[sixmile]

1. This whole story is fishy

Why did he return to Haiti? Who let him in? etc.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/fl-haiti-duvalier-protest-20110117,0,355490,full.story

'Many were suspicious of Duvalier's motives and timing.

"This is a distraction," said Dessalines Ferdinand, 45, a Miramar resident and publisher of Le Floridien, a Creole-language community newspaper.

Ferdinand wondered aloud whether Haitian President Rene Preval "could have opened the door" for Duvalier's return from exile as a way of shifting the spotlight from the confusion left by November's presidential election.

"Maybe this is to prevent Preval from having to go into exile," Ferdinand said.

Constitutionally barred from another term, Preval was to leave office next month. But a run-off election scheduled for Sunday was indefinitely postponed amid reports that the November election was tainted by violence and polling-place irregularities.

"I don't know what to make of this," Pierre said. "But if Preval is behind an effort to create chaos, it clearly takes the focus off him."