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Caribbean L 12 ife, DECEMBER 6-12, 2019
Bouterse sentenced to 20 yrs
Bouterse returned to Suriname early
Sunday morning to a tumultuous welcome
from NDP supporters, declaring
that come what may, “I will be on the list
on candidates again” on May 25.
Media reporting of the judgement
has already begun to fade away. Leaders
of the plethora of political parties
contesting next May’s elections have
already begun to revert to traditional
campaign themes, referring to the verdict
en passe. They also sometimes call
for his resignation.
This is even as the Bouterse legal and
party hierarchical teams have begun
preparing a court appeal in earnest. This
move is designed to buy time for Bouterse,
now a convicted felon, ensure he
is the NDP’s candidate and to keep him
out of jail — at least for the time being.
Some political leaders such as Marinus
Bee van De of ABOP, a Maroon party
with strong roots in the southeast near
French Guiana and the interior, pour
scorn on Bouterse and the NDP’s allegations
that the verdict is designed to
damage the president politically saying
that the trial had been ongoing for more
than a decade.
“Political parties do not sit in the
courtroom. It is a trial against the citizen
Bouterse. I do not know where the
link with May 25. What exactly does
Bouterse mean? Everyone falls under
the law. The moment when a law has
legal force counts for everyone,” he
said.
Similar sentiments came from Chan
Santokhi of the Hindustani VHP party
and the National Party of Suriname
(NPS).
“When the trial against Bouterse
began, he was not a president. That
proves that it was not a trial against the
president and even less related to the
election. So one should not say that. The
lawsuit started in 2007 and the NDP did
not enter the government until 2010,
with Bouterse as president, a verdict of
cases that took place in 1982. It was
known for a long time that a ruling was
imminent,” said Santokhi, a former justice
minister and police chief.
NPS Leader Greg Russia notes that
“the judiciary must be allowed to do
its work. With us there is no indication
whatsoever that the treatment and the
resultant ruling would have anything
to do with politics. We call every citizen
to the laws respect the country,” the
De Ware Tijd newspaper quoted him as
saying.
The ruling has forced regional scholars
to wade through archives as they
try to determine whether Bouterse
would become the first incumbent to
be charged, convicted and sentenced to
a jail term while serving as head of state
and government.
His NDP is under severe pressure
from several opposition political parties
trying to deny the party from gaining a
majority of 26 of the 51 seats it needs to
form a government but party leaders say
the sentence will only serve to energize
the NDP’s multiracial base across the
country.
In a detailed ruling that ate up almost
all of last Friday, the judges said they
were able to prove that Bouterse was the
man who gave the orders and was not
only the man in charge as military ruler
of the country at the time, but shots
were only fired when he was at or near
the colonial era Dutch fort where the
executions of the 15 were carried out,
Investigators said they had found close
to 100 bullet holes in the concrete of the
fort, which is ironically, just steps away
from the current cabinet and presidential
office.
Continued from Page 1
City passes Parking Placard Bill
Williams said placards are intended for
usage by qualifying staff of city agencies,
non-profit organizations, people with disabilities
and clergy members.
In addition to street congestion, he
said abuses of that system result in blocking
bus, pedestrian, fire hydrant and biking
passages.
Williams said there have been over
8,000 complaints to 311 in the last two
years, stating that the use of fraudulent
placards is currently punishable with a
fine of no less than $250.
This bill, part of a broader package the
Council voted on Tuesday, would double
the penalty for the offense, specifically
targeting those who manufacture,
purchase, or otherwise use fraudulent
permits.
Williams said enforcement for this violation
is primarily carried out by the New
York Police Department (NYPD).
Among other bills in the package
passed on Tuesday were measures that
would create an electronic tracking system
for valid parking permits, expand
reporting and enforcement on illegal
placard and city vehicle usage and penalize
individuals who are misusing otherwise
legitimate permits.
Continued from Page 1
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Photo by Steve Solomonson, File
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