Former Suriname president and military strong man, Desi Bouterse says the 20 year jail sentence “came as no surprise,” as the acting Attorney General, Carmen Rasam, said his “victims were riddled with a hail of bullets” as the appeal case continued regarding Bouterse’s complicity in the murder of 15 men on December 8, 1982.
“Life is the highest good of every human being. In an extremely cold-blooded and calculating manner, the suspect deprived these 15 victims of the right to life. The victims were riddled with a hail of bullets that were fired at them at close range. Relatives have not even had the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones in a dignified manner,” Rasam said as she sought 20 years unconditional prison for the former head of state.
But in a statement issued by Bouterse’s National Democratic Party (NDP), he said given the course of the criminal process since it was started, the sentence did not come as a surprise to him. In the statement, Bouterse calls on his fellow party members to keep calm.
Bouterse has lodged an appeal because he disagrees with the judgment and also denies premeditation. He argues that matters have consistently been omitted from the procedural documents in his favor.
The NDP says the criminal process must run its course.
In August 2021, the Court Martial of Suriname upheld the 2019 military court ruling of a 20-year-jail term on Bouterse following a trial that had been going on for several years.
In 2017, Bouterse along with 23 co-defendants appeared in the military court after the Court of Justice had earlier rejected a motion to stop the trial. The former military officers and civilians had been charged with the December 8, 1982 murders of the 15 men that included journalists, military officers, union leaders, lawyers, businessmen and university lecturers.
The prosecution had alleged that the men were arrested on the nights of December 7 and 8 and transferred to Fort Zeelandia, the then headquarters of the Surinamese National Army. They said the men were tortured and summarily executed.
Earlier this month, attorney Irvin Kanhai, who is also representing Iwan Dijksteel, Stephanus Dendoe, Benny Brondenstein and Ernst Geffery challenged the objectivity of the military judge, Colonel Dennis Kamperveen, claiming that one of the victims, André Kamperveen and the judge, have a common grandfather. The men are challenging their ten-year jail term.
But the Public Prosecution Service argued that it had no need to hear witnesses during the appeal process, reiterating its call for Bouterse, 77, who led Suriname during the 1980s as head of a military government and de facto leader, to be arrested and given his unconditional prison sentence.
Bouterse took office as president in 2010, following a democratic election and was elected for another term in 2015.
Desi Bouterse has always maintained during the trial that he was not present at the fort when the men were shot.
CMC/
