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The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...
then ruling
Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
. Thirteen of these men were arrested on December 7 between 2 am and 5 am while sleeping in their homes (according to reports by the families of the victims). The other two were Surendre Rambocus and Jiwansingh Sheombar who were already imprisoned for attempting a counter-coup in March 1982. Soldiers of
Dési Bouterse Desiré Delano "Dési" Bouterse (; born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's ''de facto ...
(
dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...
of Suriname at the time), took them to Fort Zeelandia (at that time Bouterse's headquarters), where they were heard as "suspects in a trial" by Bouterse and other sergeants in a self-appointed court. After these "hearings" they were
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts car ...
d and shot dead. The circumstances remain unclear. On 10 December 1982, Bouterse claimed on national television that all of the detainees had been shot dead "in an attempt to flee". The December murders led to international protest by numerous
Western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
and
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
organizations. The former colonial power, the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Neth ...
, immediately froze
development aid Development aid is a type of foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. Closely-related concepts include: develop ...
. Many Surinamese
civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, ...
s fled Suriname for the Netherlands. Bouterse has long denied guilt in the December murders. In March 2007 he accepted political responsibility for the murders, but he then also explicitly stated that he personally had not 'pulled the trigger' to kill the fifteen men. In March 2012, however, a former confidant of Bouterse testified under oath that Bouterse himself had shot two of the victims.


Description

After their abduction, the fifteen victims were transported to Fort Zeelandia, the then
headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
of Bouterse and his soldiers in
Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's po ...
, the capital of Suriname. The soldiers performing the action were under command of Bouterse, the then dictator of Suriname and also leader of the Surinamese army. Among the victims were lawyers, journalists, businessmen, soldiers, university teachers and a union leader. A sixteenth arrested person,
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
leader Fred Derby, was released unexpectedly on December 8. Derby reported his experiences on December 8, 2000, saying he was not murdered because, Bouterse told him, he was needed to cool the temper of the unions, which were frequently on strike at that time.


Victims

*John Baboeram, lawyer * Bram Behr, journalist *Cyrill Daal, union leader * Kenneth Gonçalves, lawyer * Eddy Hoost, lawyer, former minister * André Kamperveen, football player, journalist and businessman * Gerard Leckie, university teacher *Sugrim Oemrawsingh, scientist *Lesley Rahman, journalist * Surendre Rambocus, military officer *Harold Riedewald, lawyer *Jiwansingh Sheombar, military soldier *Jozef Slagveer, journalist *Robby Sohansingh, businessman *Frank Wijngaarde, journalist (with Dutch citizenship)


Jozef Slagveer

Jozef Slagveer (25 January 1940) was a journalist and writer. He was born in Totness and graduated from the Free University in journalism. On his return to Suriname in 1967, he started work at the Ministry of Education. In 1971, he started a press agency and magazine together with . His magazine uncovered several corruption scandals. He also published several books and poetry collections both in
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...
and
Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (also Sranantongo "Surinamese tongue," Sranan, Surinaams, Surinamese, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a ''lingua franca'' by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname. Developed originally am ...
. After the 1980 coup d'état, Slagveer joined the sergeants and became their spokesperson on television and censor. Gradually he became more critical, and eventually broke all contact with the military regime. On 7 December 1982, Slagveer was arrested, and, with visible signs of torture, forced to read a confession on television that the group had tried to overthrow the government. He was killed the next day.


Suspects

In the December murders trial that commenced on November 30, 2007 there were 25 suspects with Bouterse being the only main suspect. * Errol Alibux * * *
Dési Bouterse Desiré Delano "Dési" Bouterse (; born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's ''de facto ...
(main suspect) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ruben Rozendaal * * Jimmy Stolk * *


Aftermath and legal action

Only after many years the government of Suriname took the first official legal steps toward clarifying the case. After the murders, the victims' bodies were buried without
post-mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...
examinations having been performed; moreover, no legal investigation was conducted. Politically, the murders continue to exert an influence on Surinamese politics. After the 2010 general election, won by Bouterse, then- president
Ronald Venetiaan Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan (born 18 June 1936) is a former politician who served as the 6th President of Suriname. Biography Venetiaan was born in Paramaribo. In 1955, Venetiaan left Suriname to study mathematics and physics at the University of Le ...
refused to even mention Bouterse's name or congratulate him; Venetiaan, the Minister of Education in the government of
Henck Arron Henck Alphonsus Eugène Arron (25 April 1936 – 4 December 2000) was the first List of Prime Ministers of Suriname, Prime Minister of Suriname after it gained independence in 1975. A member of the National Party of Suriname, he served from 24 De ...
,
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
of the government overthrown by Bouterse in 1980, was a personal friend of most of the fifteen victims. After the election of Bouterse as president in August 2010,
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
moved in 2012 to amend a 1992
amnesty law An Amnesty law is any legislative, constitutional or executive arrangement that retroactively exempts a select group of people, usually military leaders and government leaders, from criminal liability for the crimes that they committed. More speci ...
to include the period of the December murders. The amendment was signed into law in April 2012 by the vice president, and resulted in halting the murder trial against (among others) then-president Desi Bouterse. The trial in front of the
court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of mem ...
was halted to await a judgment of the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
- which was defined by law, but never appointed. After some years of standstill and no appointment of a Constitutional Court, the trial continued in 2015 after an order of the court-martial. Using his authority as defined in article 148 of the
Constitution of Suriname The current Constitution of Suriname ( nl, Grondwet van Suriname, links=no) was adopted on 30 September 1987, following a referendum. It marked the return to democracy after the Bouterse military dictatorship of the 1980s. History After the Ba ...
, President Bouterse then declared that the trial was a threat to national security, and ordered the prosecutor to halt prosecution on 29 June 2016. The court-martial was expected to continue the trial and consider this new fact by 30 November 2016, but this time the trial was postponed until 30 January because of illness of one of the judges. Eventually the court-martial ordered the prosecutor on 30 January 2017 to read the charges and ignore the instructions by the President because the matter was no longer in hands of the executive but of the judicial branch. Next, the continuation of the trial was postponed to await the outcomes and timelines in other trials. In June 2017, military prosecutor Roy Elgrin was able to read his conclusions, and demanded a 20-year prison sentence for the main suspect Desi Bouterse. He argued that Bouterse was behind the murders, was present but also that he was unable to prove that he pulled the trigger. In a response, Bouterse implied that he was not willing to accept a conviction by the court, as he was "appointed by God".


Verdict

On 29 November 2019, a
military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
came to a verdict. Of the main suspects, incumbent president Bouterse was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Main co-defendant was acquitted. Bouterse was sentenced ''
in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in abs ...
'', and filed an appeal. On 30 April 2021, Bouterse appeared in court where he used his
right to silence The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the worl ...
. On 30 August 2021, the verdict of 20 years was upheld. Bouterse filed an appeal on 3 September.


References


External links


Website on the December murders (in Dutch)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070111152008/http://www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/reports/E_CN_4_1985_17.pdf Report of Special Reporteur S. Amos Wako (see annex V) {{Authority control 1982 crimes in Suriname 1982 in international relations 1982 murders in South America 2010s trials 20th-century mass murder in South America Assassinated Surinamese politicians December 1982 crimes December 1982 events in South America Kidnapping in South America Massacres in Suriname Massacres in 1982 Murder trials United Nations Human Rights Committee case law Murder in Suriname