Arrested Haitian Opposition Figure Formally Charged

Former presidential candidate Louis Dejoie II was charged Thursday with provoking civil disorder, a crime punishable by life imprisonment, his lawyer said.

Dejoie, arrested upon his arrival from Puerto Rico on Wednesday, was taken to the Port-au-Prince central court Thursday where he was formally charged.

Attorney Georges Leger said his client appeared before Judge Henoch Voltaire, an examining magistrate who under Haiti’s French-style legal system will determine if there is a case against Dejoie.

Dejoie returned to Haiti after a monthlong foreign tour in which he urged Western Hemisphere governments to press for the resignation of Haiti’s military-led junta.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the arrest of Dejoie “appears unwarranted and is ominous.”

Dejoie was one of four centrist presidential candidates considered front-runners in the Nov. 29 elections, suspended after just three hours because of deadly violence by armed gangs.

The four candidates jointly refused to take part in last Sunday’s rescheduled elections. The opposition has charged that Sunday’s elections were rigged to perpetuate the military regime and its association with remnants of the Duvalier family dictatorship.

The opposition has charged that Sunday’s elections were rigged to perpetuate the military regime and its association with remnants of the Duvalier family dictatorship.