EU-Digest: Suriname prosecutors say1982 massacre by Bouterse and his supporters was no military operation, but a criminal act

Special EU-Digest report on the Bouterse trial in Suriname, a former Dutch Colony

Suriname prosecutors say 1982 massacre by Bouterse and his supporters was no military operation, but a criminal act

Dismissing arguments from defense lawyers prosecutors in Suriname said, that the December 1982 slaying of 15 government opponents was not a military operation. Military prosecutor John Mohamedamin told a three panel military court that, although the killers might have used military weapons to commit the crimes, this doesn’t make it automatically a military operation. Not only army officers took part in the slaying said the prosecutor but also civilians. “This makes it an ordinary criminal act.” Mohamedamin argued. Dismissing arguments from defense lawyers prosecutors in Paramaribo said, that the December 1982 slaying of 15 government opponents was not a military operation.

On December 8, 1982, 15 men including lawyers, army officers, university lecturers, businessmen and journalists were rounded up by army personnel, tortured and shot dead in the Fort Zeelandia military headquarters in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. Bouterse, a two-time coup leader who remains a powerful political figure in Suriname, did not attend the court session at a naval base near the capital, Paramaribo. The former dictator seized control of Suriname by a coup in 1980, five years after the country gained independence from the Netherlands. He stepped down in 1987 under international pressure, but briefly seized power again in 1990.

The military legal panel has scheduled another hearing for Feb. 29, when defense attorneys and prosecutors will be allowed to present additional motions ahead of the trial, expected to begin sometime this year.