Press release
22 January 2013
Suriname: Unacceptable delays and uncertainty in trial of former President Bouterse
and others - ICJ
Geneva, Switzerland – The ICJ today expressed its concern at further delays in the trial of
President Desiré Delano Bouterse and 24 others, who are accused of the murder of thirteen
civilians and two military personnel in 1982.
The ICJ further expressed its dissatisfaction with the continued uncertainty on the applicability
of an Amnesty Law that could threaten the status of the trial. No public statement has been
made by the Suriname Military Court since the judges hearing the matter decided to suspend
the trial of President Bouterse in May 2012 and leave it to the public prosecutor and an
undesignated court to decide whether President Bouterse and the other accused should benefit
from the country’s Amnesty Law.
“It is unacceptable that there have been no pronouncements in this case since the last hearing
over eight months ago,” said ICJ Secretary-General Wilder Tayler. “Justice has been denied for
more than three decades and it is in everyone’s interests, both the accused and the families of
the victims, that this trial should proceed without further delay”.
President Bouterse had been accused of having been present on 8 December 1982 at the
military barracks of Fort Zeelandia, where 15 political opponents were allegedly executed.
Reports published by various organisations at the time, including by an ICJ affiliate, indicated
that several of the victims had also been subjected to torture. At the time, Bouterse was
leading a military government in Suriname.
On 19 July 2010, Desiré Delano Bouterse was elected President of Suriname, taking up office
on 12 August 2010. On 4 April 2012, despite some contestation, an amendment to the
existing Amnesty Law of 1989 was adopted by the country’s Parliament, purportedly granting
amnesty to President Bouterse and others for the murders that allegedly took place in 1982.
As the ICJ noted in its report of 29 May 2012, there are a number of unresolved questions
regarding the legality of the Amnesty law.
Contact:
Dr. Jeff Handmaker, British lawyer and Senior Lecturer at the International Institute of Social
Studies of Erasmus University
Email: handmaker@iss.nl
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