- Istimewa.
Suriname – Former Surinamese President Desi Bouterse has become a fugitive from justice after he escaped a prison sentence for his involvement in the murder of 15 activists in 1982.
This was announced by the attorney general's office on Friday, January 12, 2024.
Bouterse's three-judge sentencing hearing in December sentenced the former Surinamese president and four others to 20 years in prison for the killings of government critics, including lawyers, journalists, union leaders, soldiers, and university professors.
Mantan Presiden Suriname, Desi Bouterse.
- Istimewa.
Although Bouterse was ordered this week to report to prison, his wife, Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, told reporters outside their home on Friday morning that he would not surrender to authorities.
Lawyer Irvin Kanhai, who arrived at the prison in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital, with two others convicted in the case, said he would talk the former Surinamese leader into turning himself in.
"I will talk to him now and we will see what we will do. I don't know what he does other than submit to the law and justice," he added.
Bouterse dominated politics in the former Dutch colony for decades and left office in 2020.
He denied the charges but was still sentenced to 20 years in prison. One of his co-defendants also did not turn himself in.
"The prosecution has started the process of tracking down those convicted in the December 8 criminal case who have not reported to the penitentiary as stated in the execution order," the prosecutor said in a statement.
Advocates, including Sunil Oemrawsingh, president of the association of relatives of December murder victims, and international observers said it was not surprising that Bouterse did not show up.
"The authorities have shown admirable determination to uphold the rule of law and I hope they will not hesitate to enforce the arrest warrant," lawyer Reed Brody, who is monitoring the case for the non-governmental organization International Commission of Jurists, said in a statement.
Current president Chan Santokhi investigated the case as police commissioner and later as justice minister. He encouraged the case to proceed.
As information, the court ruled in 2019 that Bouterse oversaw the operation, in which soldiers kidnapped 16 prominent government critics, and killed all but one at a colonial fort in Paramaribo.
One of the union leaders survived and testified against Bouterse, who took power in a 1980 coup against Suriname's first prime minister just five years after independence.
Bouterse has said that the men killed had something to do with an invasion plot involving the Netherlands and the United States.
A spokesman for Bouterse's party said on Friday that the two countries were trying to intervene again.
