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The president of Suriname, Désiré Bouterse, was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison by the justice of his country for executions of opponents in 1982. The president who was on official travel in China had, following this decision, cancel a visit to Cuba and return to Suriname where he has two weeks to appeal his conviction. Back on this case called "assassinations of December".
Desire Bouterse, 74, came to power by force in 1980 and has been the strongman in Suriname's history many times. He returned to power through the ballot box in 2010 and was re-elected five years later. But the current head of state of Suriname, who has already been sentenced in absentia by the Netherlands for drug trafficking, is now caught up in the 1982 "assassinations" case, for which he has just been sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Suriname military court which has not asked for his arrest.
Back to the context of the 1980s in Suriname
On February 25, 1980, Paramaribo, the small Amazonian capital of Suriname (formerly French Guiana) is under tension: the army has just taken power by overthrowing the civil government of this young republic, independent for barely five years. The perpetrators of the putsch are a dozen sergeants in conflict for weeks with their hierarchy and with Prime Minister Henck Arron about a dispute over their working conditions. The conflict escalates and gradually embodies the dissatisfaction of a young generation in the face of a power that they deem already worn out and unable to carry the aspirations and dreams of the new nation. At the head of this "sergeant revolution", a man, Sergeant Major Désiré Délano Bouterse, nicknamed Desi Bouterse, stands out and will quickly become the strongman of the country.
Following the putsch, President Johan Ferrier remains in place, but he refuses to recognize the civilian government of Henk Chin A Sen imposed by the junta. The situation hardened and on August 13, 1980, Desi Bouterse made a second coup, proclaimed the state of emergency, dissolved the Parliament and replaced Johan Ferrier by Henk Chin A Sen at the head of the state. The Netherlands recognizes the government and supports the president, who remains a civilian, hoping to influence the military. But the junta is gradually installing a dictatorial regime more and more severe. Opposition parties are banned, the press is muzzled, a curfew is imposed, repression and arbitrary arrests become the norm.
A visit with serious consequences
In foreign policy, Desi Bouterse announces a policy of non-alignment and builds ties with Cuba, Libya and the Sandinistas of Nicaragua. Americans cut aid to Suriname. On February 4, 1982, Henk Chin A Sen was dismissed. Dési Bouterse, at the head of the National Military Council, imposes martial law.
Dési Bouterse then moves closer to other non-aligned countries in the region and forges special ties with Maurice Bishop, the President of Grenada, whom he invites to Suriname. But this visit goes wrong. Opposition manifested and cut especially electricity to obstruct the official visit, and working meetings between the two presidents are canceled. Maurice Bishop shortens his trip to Suriname and urges Bouterse to take things in hand in his country. The next day Bouterse arrested the opponents in the night of December 7 to 8, 1982.
Extract of the long format "Suriname and cocaine" from the investigative magazine "lawsuits" of RFI in 2015.
"The December murders"
During the night of 7 to 8 December 1982, 16 opposition figures (lawyers, trade unionists, journalists, university professors, etc.) gathered at Fort Zeelandia, a former Dutch fortress just outside the capital. On December 8, they are tortured and executed by the junta, including two former putschists, Rambocus and Sheombar, tried in November 1982 for seeking to restore the legitimate power they had overthrown with Dési Bouterse.
Extract of the long format "Suriname and cocaine" from the investigative magazine "lawsuits" of RFI in 2015.
The people of Suriname are durably traumatized by these murders and these executions provoke strong reactions abroad. The Netherlands is temporarily breaking off diplomatic relations and suspending their development aid. Only a union leader will survive and testify against Désiré Bouterse later in the "December assassinations" trial.
37 years later, the sentence falls
The trial of this case by the Suriname military court took many long years to finally culminate last Friday in a conviction of Desire Bouterse, six other defendants meanwhile died. Years of difficult procedure during which the party of the president has tried several times to stop the trial, and during which, for example in 2012, the National Assembly adopted an amnesty law granting immunity to Désiré Bouterse who will be later invalidated by a court order.
In this "December killings" case, the court ruled that Désiré Bouterse had overseen an operation in which soldiers abducted 16 opponents from their homes - including lawyers, journalists and university professors - and killed 15 of them in a fortress of the Paramaribo capital. Bouterse who has always denied his accusations but who will recognize his " political responsibility " in these killings, has two weeks to appeal this judgment which sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
Following the announcement of this much awaited ruling, the opposition parties immediately demanded the resignation of Désiré Bouterse. The president, who took note of this decision during an official visit to China, spoke by telephone with the vice president of the National Democratic Party to ask him to convene an emergency meeting of the party. For its part, the government of Suriname said it had " taken note of developments and called on the community to keep the peace ."
To reread about the history of Suriname: