Former Suriname president accused of ordering the murder of 15 opponents visits the headquarters of the case

Judges, witnesses and the former president Desi Bouterseaccused of ordering the murder of 15 opponents, visited the former headquarters of Fort Zeeland where the executions were carried out as part of the former president’s appeal trial.

Bouterse came to power in 1980 through a coup. He was elected president from 2010 to 2020 and sentenced in August 2021 to 20 years in prison for the “december murders” of 1982 of 13 civilians and two soldiers close to the opposition.

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“One tries to remember the memories, but more than 40 years have passed”Bouterse, 77, told reporters after a two-hour closed-door session at the fort.

The judges, the former president and three other suspects and witnesses toured the fort, passing through all the important places in the barracks: the triangular hole where detainees were kept, Bouterse’s old cabinet and the area where the men were executed, he told the journalists Hugo Essed, lawyer for the relatives of the victims.

Three ex-soldiers, witnesses and present on Tuesday, located Bouterse at the military barracks on the day of the executions, according to the lawyer.

Desi Bouterse claimed in October that he was not there at the time of the killings.

He assured that there was never a plan to execute the detainees but rather the desire to expel them from the country by air.

Bouterse accused his second-in-command, Paul Bhagwandas, who died in 1996, of being responsible and says he left the fort before the executions. According to him, they would have taken place at the end of the afternoon after his departure.

Last October he also told judges that the country was in the midst of major turmoil, claiming that the United States was planning an invasion to overthrow his regime.

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According to Bouterse, the soldiers, fearing the invasion, fired in a “panic.”

Desi Bouterse seized power in 1980 when he was a 34-year-old Sergeant Major. He resigned in 1987 under international pressure, but returned to power in 1990 in a second coup.

He left office a year later. In 2010, Bouterse’s election as president shielded him from an Interpol arrest warrant issued after a Dutch court sentenced him to 11 years in prison for cocaine trafficking.

Source: Elcomercio

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