Duvalier must face justice, Haitian president says

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Duvalier must face justice, Haitian president says
Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:27pm EDT

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Former Haitian dictator
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier must face justice
regardless of whether his countrymen forgive him for
his misdeeds, Haitian President Rene Preval said on
Tuesday.

Preval was responding to a weekend plea for
forgiveness from the exiled former president, whose
regime is believed to have killed thousands of
Haitians and embezzled millions of dollars in public
funds.

Preval said the decision whether to forgive Duvalier
lies with the Haitian people, who suffered under his
totalitarian regime. But he said the current
administration would continue legal proceedings to
recover government funds from Duvalier, who has
lived in France since his ouster in 1986.

"It is true, he has asked for forgiveness. But at
the request of my presidency, Jean-Claude
Duvalier's assets have once again been frozen,"
Preval told a news conference shortly before leaving
Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to attend the U.N.
General Assembly in New-York.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN9P42858820070925