Haiti's Former Dictator is Arrested

PORT-AU-PRINCE — A Haitian prosecutor 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. Earlier, Haitian police detained the former dictator. Armed police escorted Duvalier, 59, from the luxury hotel in Port-au-Prince where he had been staying since his surprise return on Sunday to his poor, earthquake-battered Caribbean homeland after 25 years in exile in France. Officers put him in a police SUV with tinted windows which drove away.

Duvalier, 59, was calm and did not say anything. Asked by journalists if he was being arrested, his longtime companion Veronique Roy, laughed but said nothing.

The former ruler, who is accused by human rights groups of being responsible for the killing and torture of opponents during his 15 years in power, was being taken to the office of the Port-au-Prince chief prosecutor, officials said.

Read the rest here.