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| Posted Friday, February 8, 2008 |
| After a request by two Haitian plaintiffs, Swiss government
again extends freeze on former notorious tyrant "Baby Doc" accounts |
The Swiss government has agreed to freeze the accounts of former Haitian dictator
Jean-Claude Duvalier following a request by two Haitian plaintiffs, AFP reported. "We
obtained the sequestration of the funds in Basel in early January," said Marc
Henzelin, a Geneva-based lawyer for the two plaintiffs -- a priest and a taxi driver.
 |
| Former notorious totalitarian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc"
Duvalier. |
Persecuted under the Duvalier regime, the two had obtained an injunction from a Swiss
court and then a temporary government extension of the freeze. They are trying to have a
1988 US court ruling -- which ordered the Duvaliers to pay them 1.75 million dollars in
damages -- recognized in Switzerland.
Following a request by Haiti President Rene Preval, the Swiss government separately
extended in August a freeze for another year of some 7.6 million Swiss francs in all Swiss
bank accounts belonging to Duvalier, who lives in France. "Baby Doc" Duvalier
and his followers have been accused by Haiti's government of siphoning off state funds
during their reign. The case has been on hold for years over the failure of Haitian
authorities to put together a legal case before Swiss courts to retrieve the money.
Reprinted from Tribune de Geneve of Friday, February 8, 2008.
| Wehaitians.com, the scholarly journal of
democracy and human rights |
