A former Haitian dictator intends to remain in his home country for the immediate future, a lawyer for Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier said Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Reynold Georges said Duvalier has no restrictions on his movements and wants to stay in Haiti after spending years in exile.
"He is free to do whatever he wants, to go wherever he wants," Georges told reporters Wednesday.
"It is his right to live in this country … He is going to stay. It is his country."
Authorities in Haiti have launched an investigation into whether former dictator Duvalier should be charged for corruption and embezzlement that allegedly occurred during his reign.
Duvalier arrived unexpectedly back in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince earlier this week after living in France for 25 years.
On Tuesday, the country's top prosecutor and a judge met with Duvalier a hotel before he was taken away to a closed-door courtroom for further questioning, said defence lawyer Gervais Charles.
It will now be up to the judge to decide whether there is enough evidence to press charges and go to trial.
Duvalier was released and allowed to return to his hotel, which he did under police escort, after the meeting.
While officials are considering embezzlement and corruption charges against Duvalier, rights groups have been clamouring for charges related to alleged human rights abuses during his 15-year term.
Philip Oxhorn, a McGill University professor and the founder of the Institute for the Study of International Development, said he was surprised the government seemed to be avoiding the issue of human rights.
"Basically what he did was he sought to terrorize the society, to keep it at bay, and unfortunately he was quite successful to the end when protests and other movements basically forced him out of the country," Oxhorn told CTV's Canada AM.
Earlier, Duvalier's longtime companion Veronique Roy, said she expected the trip to Haiti to last only a few days, before the couple returned to France.
Duvalier's lawyer Charles said he would go back to France if necessary and had a return ticked booked for Jan. 20.
"If he has to leave (the country), he will ask and he will leave," Charles said. "As of now, he doesn't even have a passport."
It still isn't clear exactly why Duvalier returned to Haiti.
Oxhorn said he may hope that enough time has passed that there would be a sense of nostalgia for Duvalier's style of leadership.
"My personal gut instinct is he saw an opportunity. You know dictators look better in hindsight and given the instability and uncertainty and frustration I think he said 'well I'll just see if people still like me.'"
Alice Blanchet, an adviser to Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, said she would not speculate what prompted Duvalier's return to his homeland.
"Let justice do its job, run its course. He is a citizen and no one is above the law," she said in an email to The Associated Press.
Duvalier ignored questions from journalists as he was led to a waiting convoy of SUVs outside his hotel on Tuesday. He was met by a mix of cheers and jeers from the crowd gathered outside.
Dozens of officers with the Haitian National Police were stationed both inside and outside the hotel, and all non-police traffic was stopped at the driveway.
His supporters tried to block the route to the courthouse with rocks and trash cans, but to no avail. Roy had earlier denied that Duvalier was under arrest.
"Absolutely not," Roy told an AP reporter from inside the courthouse. Journalists were not permitted inside.
Duvalier ruled Haiti from 1971, when he was just 19, to 1986 when he was toppled by a popular uprising. He returned unannounced to his homeland on Sunday after 25 years in exile.
Human rights activists have been demanding Duvalier's arrest for allegations stemming from his dictatorship.
Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
Both the father and son ruled the nation with iron fists and the support of a government secret police force of thugs, known as the Tonton Macoute, who tortured and killed political opponents. Duvalier has also been dogged by allegations that he siphoned millions of dollars from government coffers before he was overthrown in 1986 and fled to France, where he has remained until now.
His return to Haiti comes as the country struggles to work through a political crisis following the problematic Nov. 28 first-round presidential election, as well as a cholera epidemic and a troubled recovery from an earthquake.
But most observers say Duvalier doesn't appear to be in good health, and therefore a political comeback seems unlikely.
Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, supporters chanted slogans and called for the arrest of President Rene Preval.
Chal Christen waved a flag representing Duvalier's party that he said he had stored away for 25 years.
"We don't have food, our houses collapsed, our children can't go to school. It's Preval that is the dictator," Christen said. "We want Duvalier for president. Under him we ate well, we were safe."
But former soccer star Bobby Duval, who was tortured and starved during 17 months he was held in the notorious Fort Dimanche jail, was angry that Duvalier was not immediately arrested upon his arrival in the country.
Duval said other prisoners who, like him, were held at the jail without charge were routinely beaten, tortured and executed, or died from malnutrition.
"He is a murderer and a thief," said Duval, who runs a kids' athletic training school. "A country that has no memory will repeat its same mistakes."
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti had said there is ample evidence to arrest Duvalier during his stay.
"The information available in existing legal proceedings and Mr. Duvalier's 25-year flight from Haitian justice clearly justify the immediate issuance and execution of an arrest warrant," the IJDH said in a statement issued before news of the probe became public.
Amnesty International issued a cautious press release on the news that Duvalier had been detained.
"If true justice is to be done in Haiti, the Haitian authorities need to open a criminal investigation into Duvalier's responsibility for the multitude of human rights abuses that were committed under his rule including torture, arbitrary detentions, rape, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions," the group said.
With files from The Associated Press
