Former president Bouterse summoned to serve his prison sentence

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC –  Former Surinamese President Desi Bouterse, whose conviction for involvement in the killing of 15 people more than four decades ago was upheld in December, has been ordered to jail to serve his sentence.

This was announced on Wednesday by the public prosecutor.

The former president and army leader had until Monday to request a pardon but did not do so. He is to appear at a jail in the country alongside four co-defendants on Friday.

In December, a three-judge panel affirmed the convictions of Bouterse and four others in the execution of 15 government critics, including lawyers, journalists, union leaders, soldiers and university professors in December 1982.

Bouterse was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Iwan Dijksteel, Benny Brondenstein, and Ernst Gefferie were each sentenced to 15 years.

The five convicts were summoned by bailiffs' writ on Wednesday to report to the location where they will be locked up. Dendoe, Dijksteel, Brondenstein and Gefferie were ordered to report to the Central Penitentiary Institution in Santo Boma and the Penitentiary Institution Duisburglaan.

Bouterse was not at home and according to the Public Prosecution Service his roommate, on two occasions, refused to accept the summons. 

In response, the Public Prosecution Service emphasised that once served, Bouterse will be locked up in a cell on the grounds of the Military Hospital in Paramaribo due to medical issues and because he is a former president. 

Bouterse, 78, dominated politics in the former Dutch colony for decades and left office in 2020. 

In the past he said the murdered men were connected to an invasion plot involving the Netherlands and the United States.

Bouterse led the country through the 1980s as head of a military government, then assumed office again in 2010, securing re-election five years later.

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