Duvalier taken to Haiti hospital after falling ill

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti’s former  dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who faces charges of  corruption and rights abuses after returning from exile in  January, is being treated in a hospital after falling ill,  aides said today.
Duvalier, 59, who ruled Haiti for 15 years after taking  over in 1971 on the death of his widely feared father, Francois  “Papa Doc” Duvalier, was taken to a private hospital in the  Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.
“He has several problems. He had a terrible stomach ache,  he felt a pain in his thorax. He has been like that for several  days,” his lawyer Renaud Georges told Reuters.
“He remains in the hospital because that will allow him to  have some rest and recover. But he will be fine,” said another  aide, former Haitian army Colonel Christophe Dardompre.
Duvalier has said he returned to Haiti on Jan. 16 after 25  years exile in France to help his compatriots rebuild from the  January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people in  one of the world’s poorest states.
He is under investigation on charges of corruption and  crimes against humanity for killings and torture that occurred  during his 15-year rule.
Duvalier is alleged to have embezzled between $300 million  and $800 million of assets from Haiti during his presidency.
Switzerland’s government announced last month it would  start legal proceedings to confiscate his assets, frozen in the  European country since 1986.
In a television interview given after his return, Duvalier  rejected accusations that he was a tyrant and said he was the  first person to introduce a democratic process in his troubled  Caribbean homeland.
Haiti is waiting for the result due next week of a  presidential run-off held on Sunday between Michel Martelly, a  popular entertainer and singer, and Mirlande Manigat, a former  first lady and a law professor.