Former President Desi Bouterse of Suriname, who was sentenced to twenty years in prison, will submit a request for clemency to current President Chan Santokhi. His lawyer Irvin Kanhai said this on Friday to the Public Prosecution Service. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Bouterse and four co-convicts want to “suspend the execution of the sentences for the time being due to the intention to […] to submit a request for clemency to the President of the Republic of Suriname.”
The Court of Justice convicted 78-year-old Bouterse on Wednesday on appeal for his role in the December murders in 1982. Fifteen leading critics of his then military regime were tortured and murdered in Fort Zeelandia. Bouterse received a twenty-year prison sentence and the four other convicts fifteen years. After the verdict, the Public Prosecution Service had announced that it would consult with the convicted persons and their lawyer about the date of the “execution of the sentence”.
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Once President Santokhi has received the request for clemency, he will seek advice from the Court of Justice. This may advise rejecting, granting or reducing the sentence. The requirements for a pardon are not legally established. Santokhi told the Surinamese news site Starnieuws that he accepted the advice of the Court of Justice will follow upeven though he is not obliged to do so.