Haitians seek Aristide's arrest
2004-11-13 16:11
Port-au-Prince - Haiti is to seek the arrest of its exiled former president Jean Bertrand Aristide on charges of fraud and political crimes, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said on Friday.
Aristide is now in South Africa.
Latortue said that formal instructions had been sent to the Justice Ministry for an international warrant to be issued "as quickly as possible".
The prime minister spoke at a ceremony to mark the start of a commission looking into the diversion of funds during Aristide's administration between 2001 and 2004.
Haitian authorities and Aristide's political opponents accuse the ex-president of large scale theft from state coffers and of being the inspiration for political murders in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
However, Aristide's Miami-based lawyer charged that the potential arrest bid was "politically motivated".
"The charges are completely baseless, politically motivated and have no basis in reality. They've been making these claims since Latortue got there," Ira Kurzban, Aristide's lawyer, said in a statement.
Kurzban said Latortue's interim government was not elected, that it was installed by force and that the interim leader is seeking to "persecute the democratic elected president of Haiti".
Aristide fled a popular revolt in Haiti in late February, flying to the Central African Republic and later Jamaica before arriving in South Africa on May 31.
His supporters have been accused of responsibility for a wave of political violence in recent weeks that have left dozens of dead.
The former president has lashed out at Latortue in recent weeks, accusing the prime minister of seeking a "scapegoat" for the violence.
- SAPA