Duvalier foes seek justice for dictatorship abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Duvalier foes seek justice for dictatorship abuses
By DAVID McFADDEN
The Associated Press
Saturday, February 12, 2011; 1:56 AM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- As a political prisoner in the 1970s at Haiti's most dreaded lockup, Claude Rosier sat in his squalid, crowded cell and dreamed of the day that tubby, boyish dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier would face justice.

The 79-year-old, who was starved and tortured in the notorious Fort Dimanche and other prisons for nearly 11 years during the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship, said Friday he is hopeful that long-awaited day of reckoning may soon be at hand.

"All I hope to see with the Duvalier case is justice. Not just for me, but so history does not repeat itself in Haiti," Rosier said at a Port-au-Prince hotel, where he joined another ex-political prisoner and a human rights lawyer to speak about the prosecution of Haiti's former "president for life."

Just 19 when he assumed power after the death of his infamous father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, in 1971, Baby Doc's 15-year rule was marked by torture, extrajudicial executions and the disappearance of hundreds of people. The strict order was enforced by the feared Tonton Macoute secret police, which killed and extorted from countless Haitians.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/12/AR2011021200462.html