The Surinamese ex-president and army leader Desi Bouterse was also sentenced to twenty years in prison on appeal this Wednesday for his involvement in the murder of fifteen opponents of his military regime in 1982. He was not present in the courtroom of the Court of Justice to hear this final verdict against him.
Contrary to what the Public Prosecution Service had requested, Bouterse does not have to serve the sentence immediately, the judges determined. It is now up to the Attorney General to determine when and under what circumstances the sentence should be carried out.
After he was sentenced to twenty years twice before for these so-called December murders, Bouterse successively protested and appealed against that conviction. With this latest ruling, 41 years later, there has been a final verdict in this extremely sensitive and politically charged case for Suriname.
In this appeal filed last year, the Public Prosecution Service had once again demanded twenty years of unconditional imprisonment, as well as ‘an order for immediate imprisonment’ of 78-year-old Bouterse. The Court of Justice had to make a separate decision on this addition to the judgment.
Lawyer’s advice ignored
Before the hearing, it was questionable whether Bouterse would be absent from the courtroom to hear his verdict. He showed up several times during previous sessions in recent years, but during a rally of his NDP party on Saturday he was told by his supporters to stay away. “Do not come! Stay home!”, it sounded exuberantly. When the hearing started and Bouterse was called, he was indeed absent.
Bouterse’s lawyer Irwin Kanhai said he advised his client on Monday to be present at the verdict. When the counselor arrived at the court on Wednesday morning, he said that as far as he was concerned this advice still applied. “There is a relationship he has with his supporters. I am not one of his followers. And there is an attorney-client relationship.” But he also had to acknowledge: “He [Bouterse, red.] is free to follow that advice.”
In the capital Paramaribo, it was relatively quiet on the streets at the start of the trial, around 9 a.m. local time. The Surinamese authorities announced a safety plan in advance, which included a ban on gatherings in the closed areas near the courthouse. President Chandrikapersad Santokhi “urgently appealed to society to demonstrate responsible behavior and deal with the situation peacefully.”
No NDP supporters were present at the court, but NDP parliamentarians gathered at Ocer, Bouterse’s party center, in an upstairs room.
Defenses rejected
The fifteen critical journalists, lawyers, intellectuals and soldiers were tortured and murdered in Ford Zeelandia during the night of December 7 to 8, 1980. According to Bouterse, the victims planned to commit a coup and were “shot while fleeing.” In addition to the ex-president, Ernst Gefferie, Stephanus Dendoe, Iwan Dijksteel and Benny Brondenstein also appealed on Wednesday.
The defense requested an acquittal, but the court rejected each of its defenses as ‘implausible’ and as an ’empty claim’, the Surinamese radio station ABC reported, among others. The judges also determined that it was established that the murder was premeditated: the soldiers responsible received specific instructions and training, and the victims were held captive for hours.
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