PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier applied for a new passport Wednesday and intends to leave the country when he gets it, a spokesman said, insisting that the former strongman can neither be forced to leave his homeland nor compelled to stay and face a potential criminal trial.
Duvalier had been scheduled to leave today but can’t because his passport has expired, said the spokesman, Yves Germain Joseph. Duvalier, 59, stunned the country Sunday with his mysterious return nearly 25 years after he went into exile in France.
A judge has up to three months to decide whether Duvalier can be tried on accusations of corruption and criminal association in the 1970s.
Duvalier also has new legal problems: Journalist Michele Montas and several other people persecuted under Duvalier’s regime filed lawsuits against him Wednesday, claiming torture, arbitrary detention and civil-rights violations.
