Bouterse forgoes foreign witnesses at `December murders’ trial

(De Ware Tijd) BOXEL – The defense of Desi Bouterse, the prime suspect in the ‘December murders’ trial, has decided not to summon witnesses living abroad to testify. Bouterse’s lawyer Irvin Kanhai could not provide the addresses of witnesses he wanted to summon to the Prosecutors’ Office, so they could not be summoned. He has told the court-martial that he was dependent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out these addresses. That assistance was not provided. Besides, some of the witnesses Kanhai wanted to summon, such as former Ambassador Max Vegelin van Claerbergen and former Dutch military attaché Bas van Tussenbroek have already passed away.