Dear Editor,
I am a worried citizen of Suriname who writes in relation to the statement that the President of my country delivered to the heads of government at the recent Caricom meeting in Georgetown. It was a statement that in my view was based on false assumptions and was only meant to get the so called ‘support’ of the Caricom heads. They were all misled to believe that Suriname was experiencing a “constitutional crisis” because of the possible outcome of the “8 December trial.” As is internationally known, Mr Desiree Delano Bouterse, the President of Suriname, is the prime suspect in this court case that has been going on for more than 5 years. The atrocities which took place in December 1982 have since then divided Suriname as a nation. It is this President, who through illegal steps has manipulated our constitution and laws since 1980, most recently through the illegal application of Article 148 of the Constitution of Suriname.
What it comes down to is that the President, being a prime suspect in this case will literally do anything to avoid being condemned for the events that took place during that dreadful night of December 8, 1982. Let us not forget that Mr Bouterse has already been convicted of drug trafficking and was sentenced to eleven years in prison by a Dutch court in 1999. The moment Mr Bouterse’s party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), and his then coalition partners came to power in 2010, they elected him as President and immediately started to plan changes to be made to the Amnesty Law. It is important to know that the Amnesty Law was instituted to pardon the perpetrators of the hinterland war. This internal conflict took place between 1986 and 1992. During this period Mr Bouterse was the supreme commander of the armed forces and he again trampled on our constitution by committing the so called ‘telephone coup’ in 1990. Since what he and his followers call the 1980 “revolution”, the country has been divided and has been going downhill.
For Mr Bouterse to become the elected President is against the constitution (Article 92). He has demonstrated that he is a controversial president, both nationally and internationally. Since 2010 many corruption scandals have plagued the country and in many cases people from intimate circles around the President have been involved. The Bouterse government has a policy of rewarding its own people and putting them in key positions to an extent that has made education and competence irrelevant.
Mr Bouterse has always been running from justice. If cornered he will take illegal measures using the cover of his party’s majority in parliament. The moment the Supreme Court ruled that the December 8 process should be continued, the party giving cover to the President went into action to mastermind another escape from justice. This resulted in Article 148 now being used in a very improper way. Let me emphasize again, there is no crisis in my country; there is no unrest, no uproar in the streets, no nothing. What really happened is that the court decided that no power has the right to interfere with an ongoing court case. In no country in the world can a government order a court to stop prosecution, but the President directly ordered the Attorney General to stop the judicial process, misusing Article 148 to do so. The Chief Judge of the court ruled otherwise. She stated that the letter from the Attorney General to the court was regarded as a “notification”, nothing more, nothing less.
The resolution which allowed the President to misuse Article 148 was signed by the entire government, leaving most people flabbergasted about such an illegal and dictatorial step. The chief judge then decided to give all the lawyers involved in the case until August 5 to read and prepare, and on that date a final decision would be made as to whether the case would continue or not. All hopes are now focused on the bravery of these judges when they make a decision on August 5.
The day that the President (as an exception) found his way to Parliament in order to brief members behind closed doors on the steps he had taken to avoid continuation of the case against him, he came out smelling like roses. A press conference was scheduled for the next day, and the scenario called for a glorious President to appear telling us, the people, that the case had been suspended and that all was OK again. As it turned out, the brave judge ruled otherwise. The President sent his Minister of Justice & Police to the press conference. This minister, a lawyer herself, made disrespectful statements insulting the judicial power directly and suggesting this part of the ‘Trias Politica’ was biased. She further said that if Article 148 was ignored by the court she did not know what the “supporters” of a party whose chairman would be convicted would do. It was a very intimidating and low level remark to come out of the mouth of a Minister of Justice.
Now to Caricom: It is a shame that the President of Suriname gives false information to his fellow heads, blaming the opposition for a crisis that does not even exist. I can’t believe that well-educated and distinguished people would buy these misrepresentations from a fellow head of state. I would urge each member of Caricom to objectively study the case and come to a conclusion on this. The propaganda headlines in the Suriname newspapers are that Caricom is supporting the President. Actually this would mean that Caricom is backing an illegally elected and convicted (in absence) President, and in this way Caricom in general is being contaminated. I do hope that all heads of government will take a closer look at what is happening here in Suriname, and not come up with the cliché that it is an internal affair over which Caricom has no influence.
Yours faithfully,
Robert G Seute
