PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haitian authorities want Jean-Claude Duvalier to leave the country, but the once-feared dictator will not go and could even choose to get involved in politics, one of his lawyers said Wednesday.
Defense attorney Reynold Georges told reporters that it is Duvalier's right to remain in Haiti, but that he is free to travel. He stressed that Haiti's government has not ordered Duvalier to return to France following his surprise return on Sunday.
"He is free to do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants," Georges said of the once-feared strongman, known as "Baby Doc." "It is his right to live in his country ... He is going to stay. It is his country."
Georges said a Haitian judge who met with the 59-year-old former leader, who apparently does not have a valid Haitian passport, asked him when he planned to leave. "They want him to leave," he insisted.
Georges portrayed the former leader as an esteemed ex-president who might choose to help a small Duvalierist political party during his time in Haiti, though he gave no details on what the help might involve.
Duvalier, who assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his notorious father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, faces accusations of corruption and embezzlement for allegedly pilfering the treasury before his 1986 ouster. He returned to Haiti on Sunday evening after being exiled for nearly 25 years.
Alice Blanchet, a special adviser to Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, refused to speculate about Duvalier's plans to stay in a country struggling through a dire political crisis following the problematic Nov. 28 first-round presidential election, as well as a cholera epidemic and a troubled recovery from the last year's devastating earthquake.
"Let justice do its job, run its course. He is a citizen and no one is above the law," she said in a Wednesday e-mail, adding that Duvalier "remains available to the prosecutor" while he is in Haiti.
On Wednesday, Duvalier stayed at the upscale Hotel Karibe in the hills above downtown Port-au-Prince and spoke publicly only through his lawyers. Duvalier and his longtime companion Veronique Roy were seen eating breakfast on his balcony.
Outside, on the rutted streets of Port-au-Prince, there were no signs of widespread support for Duvalier. When he was led to a courthouse on Tuesday, supporters staged demonstrations on his behalf but they were tiny by Haiti standards. More than half the nation's people are too young to have lived through his government.
Haitian authorities moved toward trying Duvalier for alleged corruption and embezzlement committed during his brutal 15-year rule by opening an investigation on Tuesday, but specifics about the probe were scarce.
Duvalier defense attorney Gervais Charles said a judge of instruction will decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial. It's a process that can take up to three months.
Duvalier has been accused in the past in Haiti of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in public money and Swiss officials have struggled for years over what to do with his bank accounts in that country.