|
Friday, February 21, 2014
The Court of Appeal in the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday reversed a January 2012 ruling by an investigative judge. The earlier decision stated that Duvalier could not be charged with crimes against humanity filed by victims of alleged forced disappearances and torture during his rule from 1971-1986 because the time for the prosecution of those offences had elapsed but, the Court of Appeal has now ruled there is "substantial evidence" pointing to the indirect involvement and alleged criminal responsibility of Jean-Claude Duvalier for the alleged human rights violations during his presidency.
The court has appointed one of its sitting judges to further investigate the allegations, who has apparently been tasked with obtaining new testimony from victims who did not have the chance to testify during last year?s appeals hearings. Although victims appealed against the 2012 ruling and Jean-Claude Duvalier himself appeared before the court last year, the judicial process had been stalled since last May, allowing the former president to take part in public events, often at the invitation of the Haitian government. The most recent example was a state ceremony to commemorate the country?s independence at the beginning of this year.
The Haitian authorities re-opened a criminal case against Duvalier shortly after he returned to the country on 16 January 2011, following a 25-year exile in France and an investigating judge ruled that Duvalier should stand trial before a lower court for misappropriation of public funds, but that the statute of limitations had expired on the human rights crimes he was accused of. Both the victims of human rights violations and Duvalier appealed the decision. The appeal began on 13 December 2012 and Duvalier appeared before the Court of Appeal in Port-au-Prince on 28 February 2013, for the first time giving public testimony related to alleged crimes during his rule.
|
