Amnesty urges Haiti to bring "Baby Doc" to justice

Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude ''Baby Doc'' Duvalier moves through the crowd of supporters, journalists and security after he was discharged from a private hospital in Port-au-Prince March 29, 2011.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Amnesty International urged Haiti to bring former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier to justice on Thursday as it issued a report on killings and torture committed with impunity during his 15-year rule.

Duvalier returned unexpectedly to his Caribbean homeland in January after 25 years of exile in France. Days after his arrival, a Haitian prosecutor charged him with embezzlement, corruption and crimes against humanity stemming from his 1971-1986 reign.

A judge is investigating the charges but has not indicated when he will rule on whether Duvalier should be tried in a criminal court.

There is little confidence in the Haitian justice system and the Duvalier case is seen as a key test of the direction it will take under President Michel Martelly, who took office in May.

"There is sufficient evidence to prosecute Jean-Claude Duvalier for the widespread arbitrary detentions, torture, deaths in custody, killings and disappearances that took place during his regime," Javier Zuniga, a special adviser at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

"What is needed is political will from Haiti's new administration to comply with their international obligations and their duty to the survivors and victims of abuses."

Some Haitian human rights activists worry Duvalier, 60, could avoid prosecution if the investigation drags on.

Since he was charged, Duvalier has been seen dining out in restaurants and walking in an upscale suburb of the earthquake-ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince. He lives in a private hillside villa overlooking the city, in an enclave of Haiti's tiny but powerful elite.

Duvalier assumed power at the age of 19 after the death of his widely feared father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who used a dreaded secret police force known as the Tonton Macoutes to suppress opposition.

Together, the Duvaliers ruled Haiti for 28 years.

Amnesty International and other rights groups have said repeatedly that Duvalier should be tried for maintaining his father's reign of terror and using brutal henchmen to snuff out political opponents.

In its report, the London-based human rights group detailed more than a dozen cases of people who either disappeared or were arbitrarily detained and tortured under the younger Duvalier.

"The cases of human rights abuses we documented in Haiti are likely to be only a small proportion of what really happened during Duvalier's rule," Zuniga said.

Haitian prosecutors also have reactivated previous charges that Duvalier plundered millions of dollars from state coffers, although some activists say evidence suggests he may now be broke after a squandering a fortune in exile on lavish living.

Duvalier is alleged to have embezzled between $300 million (195 million pounds) and $800 million of assets from Haiti during his presidency.

Switzerland's government announced in February it was beginning legal proceedings to confiscate his assets which have been frozen in the country since 1986.

In one of his few public statements after his return from exile, Duvalier offered his sympathies in January to those who suffered abuses under his rule but he stopped short of making a clear apology.

"I take this opportunity to express once again my profound sadness for those of my fellow citizens who genuinely see themselves as victims under my government," Duvalier said.

(Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Tom Brown and by Bill Trott)