Suriname Elects a New President, Ending Desi Bouterse’s Long Rule - by Anatoly Kurmanaev and Harmen Boerboom

SURINAME

Suriname elected a new president on Monday, ending the long rule of Desi Bouterse, who dominated the small South American nation’s politics since its independence through intimidation and charisma.

The president, Chan Santokhi, a 61-year-old former police chief and leader of the opposition, was elected to the office by Suriname’s Congress following a landslide opposition victory in the May general elections.

In handing Mr. Santokhi a victory, the Surinamese punished Mr. Bouterse, a former military dictator turned populist champion, for a disastrous economic crisis and the widespread corruption in his government.

Note EU Digest: Finally Desi Bouterse, who dominated the small South American nation’s politics since its independence in 1975 from the Netherlands, at first by a coupe d'etat, where he ruled as a dictator, and later, as a populist president, is President no more .

On June 2017, during a military court case, the prosecutor Roy Elgrin read his conclusions, and demanded a 20-year prison sentence for the main suspect Desi Bouterse. for the murder of 15 prominent  young Surinamese men on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, who had criticized the military dictatorship of Bouterse then ruling Suriname. The cruel killing became known as the "December murders" "Dutch: December moorden) Bouterse his lawyer has deposited an appeal. Final ruling is pending.

In memoriam  - Suriname's heroes December Massacre

Bram Behr journalist   

Cyrill Daal, union leade

Kenneth Gonçalves, lawyer

Eddy Hoost, lawyer

André Kamperveen, journalist and businessman

Gerard Leckie, university teacher

Sugrim Oemrawsingh, scientist

Lesley Rahman, journalist

Surendre Rambocus, military

Harold Riedewald, lawyer

Jiwansingh Sheombar, military

Jozef Slagveer, journalist

Robby Sohansingh, businessman

Frank Wijngaarde, journalist (with Dutch citizenship)

 

Read more at:

Suriname Elects a New President, Ending Bouterse’s Long Rule - The New York Times

Netherlands: Dutch legislators want Suriname President Bouterse, a convicted cocaine trafficker, arrested while at Mandela funeral

Suriname President Desi Bouterse

Legislators in the Netherlands have called for the government to state whether it will be making an attempt to have Suriname President Desi Bouterse arrested while he is in South Africa attending the funeral of Nelson Mandela on Sunday.

There have also been calls from an anti-Bouterse movement for the amnesty law that could provide a pardon for his role in the murders of 15 citizens in 1982 to be rescinded.

The legislators have asked the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Foreign Minister to indicate whether the government was willing to request South Africa to arrest Bouterse and extradite him to the Netherlands to serve his jail term on cocaine trafficking charges.

Bouterse was convicted in absentia in 1999 and given an 11-year jail term.

He has consistently denied involvement in cocaine trafficking and managed to evade arrest and prison time by not travelling internationally until he became President in 2010.

Bouterse is the only head of state in the world who has been democratically elected  by a majority of the population, even though this majority was aware that he had a criminal record before they elected him. 

Obviously this does not bode too well for the image of Suriname as a whole and the quality of International laws which concern diplomatic immunity for heads of state who have criminal records.

EU-Digest