An attorney for Jean-Claude Duvalier said Monday that his client was hospitalised for an unspecified illness just after the former ruler testified last week in court about alleged human rights abuses and embezzlement associated with his 15-year rule.
Lawyer Reynold Georges said on Monday night that Duvalier wasn’t feeling well before the Thursday court hearing and his doctor advised him not to testify.
“I decided otherwise” and urged him to attend, Georges said.
Georges declined to name the hospital where Duvalier is apparently receiving medical attention or specify the ailment.
The former ruler known as “Baby Doc” gave a historic testimony last week that surprised many. Few thought he would appear in court after he rebuffed three earlier orders to show up and rights groups and plaintiffs hailed the event as a small triumph for a justice system that’s long been plagued with dysfunction and corruption.
In the hearing the 61-year-old Duvalier defended his rule as a better time for Haiti. Looking gaunt and bored, he periodically wiped his shiny forehead with a white cloth as he answered questions from a three-judge panel and attorneys about political prisoners, murders and disappearances while he was the country’s “president for life.”
