A lawyer representing Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier says the former Haitian dictator is facing accusations of corruption and embezzlement over millions of dollars he allegedly stole before his ouster 25 years ago.
Defence lawyer Gervais Charles said Tuesday a judge is now investigating the allegations levelled by prosecutors, a probe that will decide whether Duvalier can be brought to trial.
In Haiti, judges decide whether to probe charges filed by prosecutors. The probe may take up to three months.
The lawyer's comments came a short time after a political associate of Duvalier's confirmed that a judge has opened an investigation into the actions of the former dictator.
Mona Bernadeau told the Associated Press that Duvalier had spent the day being questioned by a judge after he was taken by police from his hotel to a courthouse in the capital.
While Haiti's justice system allows for pre-trial detention, Duvalier was escorted out of the courthouse early Tuesday evening. Duvalier was seen leaving the courthouse with his companion, Veronique Roy. It was expected that he would return to his luxury hotel, the Hotel Karibe.
Roy had said Monday that Duvalier's trip was planned for three days and he had a return ticket 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."
Earlier Tuesday, Duvalier had been taken from his hotel after a closed-door meeting with the nation's most senior judicial officials, including Haiti's top prosecutor and a judge.
Duvalier ignored questions from journalists as he was led to a waiting convoy of SUVs outside his hotel. 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.
Henry Robert Sterlin, a former ambassador under Duvalier who has purportedly spoke on his behalf in recent days, earlier said he was unclear on what was happening.
"Let's see if they put him in prison," he said.
Jean-Claude 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. 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.
Duvalier has so far said little about the purpose of his return but there were reports he would hold a news conference at his hotel on Tuesday.
Freelance journalist Maeva Bambuck said some have speculated that Duvalier travelled to his homeland to visit family and to see his country on the anniversary of last year's devastating quake.
But most observers say he doesn't appear to be in good health, and therefore a political comeback seems unlikely.
"The more we see him, he looks quite ill, quite weak. It does not look like he's in any shape to come back to the political scene," Bambuck told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel in a telephone interview from Haiti Tuesday evening. "But we could not know for certain what he is here to do."
Elizabeth Abbott, author of "Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy" questioned the purpose of the visit.
"The timing would seem to be to muddy the waters of an already messed-up political situation," Abbott told CTV's Canada AM.
Haitian President Rene Preval has made no public statement about Duvalier's return. But in 2007 he told reporters that if he ever returned, Duvalier would face charges related to the deaths of millions of people and the theft of millions of dollars.
Duvalier denies stealing from Haiti.
Outside the courthouse, supporters chanted slogans and called for Preval's arrest.
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.
Abbott said Duvalier is a figurehead for a core of supporters who oppose democracy and would like to reinstate their own dictator.
Millions of Haitians are too young to remember life under his dictatorship, which Abbott said is considered the "most savage and repressive, and destructive and exploitive" system of government Haiti has ever known.
Some feared his return would trigger a return to deep political polarization and political violence in Haiti.
"Part of what he does by getting back into Haiti is bring back the old battle lines," said Jocelyn McCalla, a political analyst and former director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights.
"People are going to start talking about being pro- or anti-Duvalier... It intensifies the instability."
With Duvalier's return came speculation that another exiled former leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was also planning a return to Haiti. Aristide, who helped lead the movement that toppled Duvalier, has been living in South Africa since his exile in 2004.
With files from The Associated Press
