PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Haitian
President Michel Martelly on Friday
backed off a suggestion from an
interview a day earlier that he might
be open to a pardon for former
dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. He said
he meant only that he wanted an end to
the internal conflict that has long
afflicted his country.
Martelly, speaking in a radio
interview in Dublin, said that "I
never proposed to pardon" the
dictator known as "Baby
Doc," who is under a judicial
investigation for crimes committed
during his brutal 15-year rule in the
1970s and 1980s. The judge is expected
to rule soon on whether Duvalier will
face trial on corruption and human
rights charges.
A day earlier, The Associated Press
interviewed Martelly on the sidelines
of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, and asked about the
former dictator and the pending
decision. The president suggested he
had little appetite for a trial,
saying reconciliation for his nation
is more important than punishing
Duvalier.
"My way of thinking is to
create a situation where we rally
everyone together and create peace and
pardon people, to not forget about the
past -- because we need to learn from
it -- but to mainly think about the
future," he said.
Martelly added that any decision on
a possible pardon would come only with
"a consensus among all leaders,
all political parties."
In the Friday interview with
Ireland's Newstalk FM, Martelly was
asked by the host why he would pardon
Duvalier. The president said he was
misunderstood by the AP.
"When I mentioned
reconciliation it has nothing to do
with Duvalier," he said.
"Duvalier is a case where only
the justice (system) can decide on
it."
He said that years of often violent
struggle among the various factions in
Haitian society have left the country
in shambles and that the conflict has
to end for there to be any progress in
Haiti.
"The problem is the Haitian
people fighting among themselves. So I
mentioned my will to reconcile the
Haitian people, not pardon
Duvalier," he said.
After the AP interview was
broadcast and published, Martelly
presidential adviser Damian Merlo
faulted its tone but not the content,
saying in an email that he "just
wish you would have focused on the
positive aspects of the interview and
not make such a big deal about
Duvalier."
Asked about the issue Friday, Merlo
responded in an email from Dublin:
"A Duvalier pardon is not part of
the agenda."
Duvalier has posed a challenge to
Haiti since his surprise return home
in 2011 after 25 years in exile.
The country has a weak judicial
system, with little history of
successfully prosecuting even simple
crimes, and the government is
preoccupied with reconstruction from
the devastating January 2010
earthquake. A majority of Haitians are
now too young to have lived under
Duvalier but many still remember his
government's nightmarish prisons and
violent special militia, known as the
Tonton Macoute, which killed and
tortured political opponents with
impunity.
Human rights groups have faulted
the Haitian government for appearing
to delay a decision in the Duvalier
case and many older Haitians and
Martelly opponents have expressed
alarm that his government includes
several people who worked in the
administration of the former dictator.
Duvalier's lawyers have argued that
the statute of limitations for the
crimes alleged against the former
leader has expired and say their
client can't be charged for alleged
crimes committed while he held office.
Martelly traveled to Dublin on
Friday to attend "Irish Haiti
Week," an event organized by the
Irish charity Haven, which is trying
to raise money for earthquake recovery
efforts. He also met with Irish Prime
Minister Enda Kenny to discuss ways to
build ties between Haiti and Ireland.
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