PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Monday December 2,
2019 – Suriname’s
President Desi Bouterse declared himself a victim of political game as he returned
home yesterday, two days after a court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for planning
and ordering the execution of 15 political opponents in 1982 when he was the
country’s military leader.
The
74-year-old Bouterse, who was in China on official business when the decision
was handed down by the military court last Friday, was greeted by more than
1,500 supporters of his National Democratic Party (NDP) when he returned to the
Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state.
Declaring
his innocence, the president is also a convicted drug trafficker, said “it was
clear that the verdict was political”.
“The
political game is played openly, so it was clear what was going to happen. We
will stay within the law and regulations. Politics needs to be answered with
politics,” he said at a press conference.
Bouterse,
who insisted that he is focused on the general elections in May next year when
he will try to secure a third consecutive term as president, said he would meet
with his advisers and Members of Parliament on the way forward.
Defence
attorney Irvin Kanhai has already indicated he would file an appeal the ruling.
Bouterse has
two weeks to challenge the court decision that was handed down after a lengthy trial
that started in 2007 but suffered several setbacks, including efforts by
Bouterse to halt the legal proceedings and push through an amnesty law passed
by the National Assembly in 2012 that was later invalidated by a court and ruled
unconstitutional.
The court found that Bouterse,
who became de facto after playing a key role in a 1980 coup d’etat against
Prime Minister Henck Arron, had overseen an operation which involved soldiers
under his command kidnapping 16 government critics – two military officers and
14 civilians, including lawyers, journalists and university professors. Except
for a union leader who later testified against President Bouterse, the
detainees were executed at Fort Zeelandia, the colonial fortress in the capital,
Paramaribo.
The court said Bouterse
had played a crucial role in the killings, carefully preparing the ground for
executions he had the power to prevent.
But Bouterse claimed the victims had been held for plotting a counter-coup with the help of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and had been shot while trying to escape.
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