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| Murder Trial: Will Bouterse Finally Face Justice ? |
The court ordered that the trial of President Desi Bouterse resume by the end of the month in this South American country. The trial had been on hold since April 2012, when a parliament controlled by Bouterse's party approved an amnesty law.
"This is not only important for the relatives of the victims, this ruling is important for the entire country," lawyer Hugo Essed, a counsel for the relatives, told The Associated Press. "This shows Suriname is still a country with rule of law."
Essed said he expects that Bouterse will be sentenced on charges of murder in upcoming months. However, some relatives of the victims remained unconvinced.
"We cannot start celebrating yet," Sunil Oemrawsingh told reporters. "President Bouterse and his friends are in power. We have to expect they will once again put up obstacles in an attempt to sabotage the proceedings in court."
Bouterse did not attend Thursday's hearing. His lawyer, Irvin Kanhai, told reporters he still believes that only a constitutional court can review the amnesty law.
"I will discuss this situation with my client and go in appeal if necessary," he said.
A constitutional court was supposed to verify whether the amnesty law was legitimate, but such a court was never created. Four years later, the military court announced it had waited long enough.
"There is no sight of concrete actions by the government on when the court will be operational", said Judge Cynthia Valstein-Montnor, president of the military court.
She said local laws allow any judge to determine whether a law is in breach of the constitution. Valstein-Montnor said she found the amnesty law unconstitutional because Parliament approved it when the trial was ongoing and nearing its end. She also said the law violated of several human rights treaties that Suriname had signed in the past.
Bouterse and 25 allies from his time as a military dictator in the 1980s avoided trial until November 2007 on charges stemming from the abduction and summary execution of 15 prominent political opponents, an event known locally as the "December killings."
The former strongman returned to power in 2010 when he was elected president by parliament. Two years later, lawmakers passed an amnesty law and proceedings were put on hold in a decision that outraged human rights activists.
Bouterse, who was re-elected by parliament, has accepted what he called "political responsibility" for the killings by the military of the well-known journalists, lawyers and union leaders but said he was not present when the executions took place. Witnesses in the trial have disputed that claim.
Read more: Court: Murder trial against Suriname president must continue | Daily Mail Online
