A prosecutor yesterday recommended a 20-year prison sentence for Suriname’s President Desi Bouterse for his role in the December 1982 killing of 15 prominent political opponents in the South American country.
Prosecutor Roy Elgin told a court in a summation of evidence from a trial that has dragged on for years that there is sufficient proof that Bouterse was present when troops under his command summarily executed opponents of his then-military dictatorship.
The executions of union leaders, activists and journalists inside a colonial fort in the capital city of Paramaribo are referred to in Suriname as the “December killings,” and are considered one of the most significant political events in the country’s modern history.
Bouterse has previously accepted “political responsibility” for the killings but insists he was not present.
Elgin said testimony from a union leader who was spared execution and other evidence proves Bouterse was there.
The court has not yet set a date for when it will rule on whether to accept the prosecutor’s findings but it is not likely for several months at least. The prosecutor’s summation must still be read for each of more than 20 other defendants also charged in the case.
