Convened Thursday morning, February 21, for a hearing before the Court of Appeal of Port-au-Prince, the former President, Jean-Claude Duvalier was absent, being represented once again by his lawyers.

Before a room full, in the presence of lawyers of parties, of victims of the Duvalier regime, representatives of several organizations defending human rights and international observers Me Reynold Georges, one of the lawyer of former President, argued that the Court of Appeal was "incompetent" to the extent he had seized to the Court of Cassation and requested the suspension of the hearing.

Judge Lebrun, President of the Court of Appeal, rejected the arguments of lawyers of Duvalier relating to the suspension of the hearing, following an appeal to the Court of Cassation. Assisted of judges Jocelyne Casimir and Durin Duret, Me Lebrun argued that the appeal was not suspensive and ordered the continuation of the hearing.

Moreover, the Court of Appeal has opposed a estoppel to the lawyers Reynold Georges and Fritzo Canton, who had announced that the Court of Appeal was removed of the case.

After more than 3 hours of debate, the court ordered the hearing of Jean-Claude Duvalier before the Court of Appeal and issued an arrest warrant against the former President "It is necessary for the court to declare that the appearance of Jean-Claude Duvalier is imperative [...] It is therefore appropriate to order that he be brought to be heard by the court," setting a new court date for February 28.

Me Frizto Canton, told the press that his client will be present "Yes, we will bring him, we respect the court's decision."

Present at the hearing, Béatrice Vaugrante, representative of Amnesty International, said on Twitter "This is a victory for victims' groups."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7927-haiti-justice-jean-claude-duvalier-will-not-appear.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7854-haiti-justice-letter-of-explanation-of-jean-claude-duvalier.html

HL/ HaitiLibre