Complaint filed against Duvalier for illegal residence

             PARIS -- (AP) -- A French citizen has filed a complaint against former Haitian
             dictator Jean-Claude ``Baby Doc'' Duvalier for illegal residence on French
             territory.

             The complaint, filed by a leftist former regional council member in the Picardy
             region, demands that Duvalier -- widely believed to be in France -- be legally
             compelled to appear in court in March, judicial officials said. If he didn't, he could
             be judged in absentia.

             Jacques Samyn said he filed the complaint as a citizen, ``to compel the French
             state to come out in the open'' about Duvalier's whereabouts.

             ``While we expel illegal immigrants, we leave `Baby Doc' in peace, Samyn was
             quoted as saying in Thursday's France-Soir newspaper.

             Although police sources have confirmed to The Associated Press that Duvalier is
             in France, the Interior Ministry said recently it has lost track of the former dictator,
             and that he probably has left French territory.

             Named president-for-life at age 19 following the death of his father in 1971,
             Duvalier, 47, has lived in France since February 1986, when a popular uprising
             forced him into exile.

             Recently, a Haitian-born photographer, Gerard Bloncourt, encouraged by the
             arrest in Britain of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, started a
             committee in Paris to bring Duvalier to trial for crimes committed during his regime.

             Samyn's move came after he learned Duvalier never had the proper papers to
             reside in France.

             Duvalier, who has recently given several media interviews without revealing his
             whereabouts, has admitted living in France without proper papers, but with special
             permission from the Foreign Ministry.

             Samyn's lawyer says that if Duvalier refuses to appear before a court on March
             14, the date cited in the complaint, he could be judged in absentia. But first
             prosecutors have to decide whether to accept Samyn's complaint.

             Illegal residence is punishable by a maximum one year in prison and a $4,500 fine,
             as well as expulsion.