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Haiti: Will Duvalier escape justice?
Groups such as Human Rights Watch, however, argue that the statute of limitations cannot be invoked to stop the investigation. They say the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, whose judgments Haiti is legally bound to obey, has held that cases involving gross human rights abuses have no statute of limitations.
Both sides say they plan to appeal the judge’s decision.
The investigation began three days after Duvalier mysteriously returned to Haiti on Jan. 16, 2011, following 25 years of exile in France. There was widespread speculation then that he had financed his exile with the US$300 million of public money he was accused of looting from Haiti.
Then-prosecutor Harycidas Auguste, under President Rene Preval, sought to prosecute Duvalier for crimes against humanity and financial corruption. That initial case drew heavily on a 1987 corruption case filed by the Haitian government months after the fall of Duvalier.
Auguste cited an attack on Nov. 28, 1980, at Radio Haiti Inter in which Montas and a dozen others were arrested and some were “severely tortured.” Human Rights Watch documented that more than 100 journalists and activists were arrested at the radio station.
It’s estimated Duvalier and his notorious father, Francois Duvalier “Papa Doc,” ordered the deaths of some 20,000 to 30,000 civilians during their 29-year rule, according to Human Rights Watch.
“The Haitian state had a moral and political responsibility to shed light on these crimes and do something on behalf of the victims,” Auguste recalled this week at his law firm.
Yet the judiciary in Haiti has long been regarded as corrupt and inefficient, and few cases ever see a trial. Before Duvalier arrived, Haiti’s courts had never handled cases involving crimes against humanity.
