AFPBouterse today after the closing argument in the court case
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 22:13
Surinamese former president Desi Bouterse has spoken at the closing argument in the trial of the December murders and said that he is ready for the verdict, whatever that may be. “I’m ready for it.“
Because of his involvement in the murder of fifteen political opponents in December 1982, the now 77-year-old former president is facing a prison sentence of twenty years. At his earlier conviction, in 2019, Bouterse was still president. He was then sentenced to twenty years in prison for his role in the December murders. He resisted the court-martial, which also came to the same sentence in 2021. The appeal has been pending in the case since July 2022.
What are the December Murders?
In the night of December 7 to 8, 1982, fifteen men were tortured and killed in Fort Zeelandia, in the Surinamese capital of Paramaribo. They were opponents of the then military regime led by Bouterse. He had come to power in a coup in 1980 with a group of sergeants.
The 15 people, including journalists, union leaders and lawyers, were trying to stage a coup, according to the regime.
Bouterse expressed no regret in his closing plea, something the relatives of the fifteen murdered men had hoped. He did call the December murders “regrettable”. Bouterse: “We have said that thousands of times and we will continue to say that, but let’s tell those people the right story”, he responded to the cameras after the session.
Bouterse himself has always denied involvement in the December murders. He believes that he is only politically responsible, because he was commander of the army in 1982. Bouterse invariably calls the lawsuit politically motivated and he repeatedly points to the Netherlands. According to him, the Netherlands withheld important information about the events in December 1982.
Watch a retrospective of the December murders in Suriname in the video below:
A look back at the December murders in Suriname 1982
According to Bouterse, a number of exculpatory statements were not included in the judgment and were therefore not taken into account. He also denied premeditation in the murders: “There was never any question of that. Of course it was a military organization, but the killing was never prepared,” he said in July 2022 when the appeal began. According to the former leader, the victims were out for a coup and were shot by soldiers while fleeing.
The judge stated today that the verdict will follow this year, when exactly is unknown.
Suriname-correspondent Nina Jurna:
“It is striking that Bouterse indicated in his closing speech that he ‘bows his head to the judge’s final verdict’ and is ‘ready for whatever verdict’. For years he labeled the lawsuit as a political case, directed by the Netherlands. Bouterse has said repeatedly in the past that he will never be imprisoned.
He also indicated that he ‘hopes and prays that the court has the wisdom and courage to pass judgment’, even if that is not the verdict that the Netherlands hopes for, according to him. With this he alludes to a possible acquittal. According to Bouterse and his lawyer Kanhai, the Netherlands had planned an invasion at the time of the December murders and an important statement about this from a Dutch witness was not sufficiently included in the OM’s demand.
In his closing statement, he also referred to documents in Dutch archives about the 1980 coup, two years before the December murders. These documents have been locked up by the Dutch authorities until 2060.”
2023-07-31 20:13:53
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