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Haiti police detains former president 'Baby Doc'

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Former Haitian President Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who returned from France to the country on Sunday, was detained on Tuesday, police said.

Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier (2nd, R) is surrounded in a hotel in Port-Au-Prince, capital of Haiti, Jan, 16, 2011. Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier returned Sunday surprisingly to Port-au-Prince after long exile as the island nation is still coping with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake one year ago. [Wan Pei/Xinhua]

"Baby Doc", who was deposed in 1986 after popular uprisings, governed Haiti for 15 years with an iron fist.

He was detained by police agents in the Hotel Karibe, where he was staying with 15 of his inner circle, including security guards.

"Baby Doc" was interrogated for several hours in his hotel, and was escorted in a 4x4 van to the Port-au-Prince Police Station.

Around 200 of his supporters gathered outside the station, waving the National Unity Party (NUP) red-black flag and threw stones despite the security operative.

Police arrived Tuesday morning at the Hotel Karibe just before a scheduled press conference by Duvalier to national and international media. His lawyer Reinold Georges also arrived and said there are no reasons to detained his client, the government commented on this that "Baby Doc" is being interrogated for funds misappropriation during his mandate.

Since his arrival to Haiti several Human Rights organizations, like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) requested his detention for killing over 60,000 people during his rule.

The return was surprising due to the situation the country is going through: the political crisis, the consequences of the Jan. 2010 earthquake and the cholera epidemic that started in October and has killed more than 4,000.