More than 16 years after the first hearing and four decades after the crime, former military strongman and ex-elected President Desi Bouterse has been sentenced a Surinamese court to 20 years in prison for the 1992 mass murders of 15 government critics.
Bouterse, 78, had appealed the previous 2019 sentence for the December 8, 1982, murders of 15 professionals that the then-military government had accused of plotting with the Dutch and other western nations to reverse the February 1980 coup that toppled the then-elected administration.
All through the trial, the judges and prosecutors had argued that the defense presented no new arguments or facts to change the 2019 verdict, so it was no surprise when the court reaffirmed the previous sentence on Bouterse, a two-time elected president who lost power in general elections three years ago.
The charismatic former president and leader of the powerful main opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) was absent from the sentencing hearing as large groups of supporters had urged at a weekend rally to prepare for what is clearly the final ruling on the case in Suriname. His attorneys have talked about the possibility of appealing to the hemispheric Inter American Human Rights Commission as an external opportunity to keep him out of prison.
Local media said the court did not order the immediate arrest and or imprisonment of Bouterse, apparently well aware that such actions could rile his supporters and raise tensions in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.
Security was tight for the verdict. Schools and roads near the courthouse were closed and so were some commercial buildings. Bouterse faced the verdict along with four other ex-soldiers, none of whom appeared in court for the ruling.
General elections are due in Suriname in May of 2025, but it is unclear whether the former strongman will still be at the helm of the NDP by then, since he is nearly 80 years old.
Prosecutors say the 15, who had included members of the clergy, labor leaders, academics, and four journalists, were rounded up and shot by firing squads for allegedly plotting to stage a counter-coup against the military. Bouterse has always accepted collective responsibility as the then-national leader, but has also always denied giving any orders to do so and had not pulled any trigger during the mayhem at a Dutch-era colonial fort next to the presidential secretariat and the palace.
The case has been a burden for the country of about 500,000 people for four decades, which should now be able to breathe a sigh of relief because Bouterse had urged his supporters to act responsibly.