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When asked about charges against Duvalier, George cited the statute of limitations expiring in 2006, saying:
"I am a lawyer, not a racketeer. I have to go by the law. And I have just told you what the law says about accusations. You have to make them in due time. After ten years? Shut up!"
He added that Duvalier "has no intention of leaving Haiti. We want to answer all the requisitions of justice because we want to be cleared."
On January 20, Gervais Charles, another Duvalier lawyer, told Radio Canada that charges of crimes against humanity were invalid because "it is a principle that does not exist" in Haitian law. He also stressed that in 25 years of exile, no complaints were lodged against him.
Asked about Duvalier's arrest, Master Ronald Charles, Dean of the Bar of Jacmel, said doing so is illegal and arbitrary. Legal procedures weren't followed. "(G)overnment commissioner of Port-au-Prince, Master Augustus Aristides, after all the tests, had to issue a warrant before his arrest," adding that Haiti's 1987 Constitution doesn't recognize Duvalier's exile.
If so, it's also true for Aristide, but Charles stopped short of explaining. However, he said it's possible for Haitian authorities to issue proper complaints.
The Collaborative Haiti (CPH), a group of Quebec organizations and individual members in solidarity with Haiti's people denounced Duvalier's return, citing specific concerns including:
-- Haiti's lack of separation of powers;
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