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BELLINZONA, ZURICH – A Swiss court today supported a plan to return the assets of former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier for aid projects in Haiti.
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona rejected an appeal by the Duvalier family, which had wanted to reclaim the money, frozen in Swiss bank accounts, totalling US$6.5 million.
The Duvaliers now have 10 days to consider lodging an appeal with Switzerland's highest tribunal, the Federal Court in Lausanne.
In its ruling, the court said the Duvalier family had failed to prove that the money, blocked since 2002, was of legitimate origin.
It added that the Duvalier family had diverted public funds into the Swiss accounts through a Liechtenstein foundation which was tantamount to a "criminal organisation".
Jean Claude Duvalier became the youngest leader in the world at the age of 19, when he succeeded his father Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier in 1971.
The Duvaliers fled the country in 1986 and in 2006 their supporters established the Duvalier Foundation <span style="font-weight: bold">to promote positive aspects of the Duvalier presidency, including the creation of most of Haiti's state institutions and improved access to education for the country's black majority</span>.
Following the removal of Jean Bertrand Aristide as President of Haiti in 2004, Jean Claude Duvalier indicated his interest in returning to the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
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