PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC- Five people, including former president and army leader Desi Bouterse, Friday submitted a request to the Public Prosecution Service as a first step towards being granted clemency after being given lengthy jail terms for their involvement in their role in the controversial multiple murder of 15 men on December 8, 1982.
The Public Prosecution Service confirmed that the men have applied for the suspension of their combined 35-year jail term using Article 486 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, arguing that they intend to submit a request for pardon to President Chandrikapersa Santokhi by Article 109 of the Constitution and Article 487 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In any case, the sentences will be carried out, and the government will support any request from the Public Prosecution Service to carry out the sentences.
President Santokhi said that up to Thursday evening, he had not received any request for clemency and that the “legal system indicates what the pardon process looks like.”
He said once he receives the request for a pardon, it will be sent immediately to the Court of Justice for an opinion.
”Then the president waits for the opinion of the Court.” Santokhi said, adding that he does not expect the Court to “state in one sentence what it thinks” but that it will thoroughly examine the request.
“Of course, as president, you will look at the advice together with experts and make a decision that fits in with our concept of the rule of law, which fits in with the spirit that we want as a country,” Santokhi said, aware of the statements being made by members of the society including the relatives of those killed.
“So, let’s look at the grounds and considerations for pardon. Let’s see what the Court says, and let’s not be premature to conclude now,” said President Santokhi
In August 2021, the Court Martial of Suriname upheld the 2019 military court ruling of a 20-year jail term on Bouterse following a trial that had been going on for several years.
In 2017, Bouterse and 23 co-defendants appeared in the military Court after the Court of Justice had earlier rejected a motion to stop the trial. The former army officers and civilians had been charged with the December 8, 1982, murders of 15 men, including journalists, military officers, union leaders, lawyers, businessmen, and university lecturers.
The prosecution had alleged that the men were arrested on December 7 and 8 nights and transferred to Fort Zeelandia, the then headquarters of the Surinamese National Army. They said the men were tortured and summarily executed.
and then 