Interpol issues arrest warrant for Suriname ex-president, Bouterse

Mar 13, 2024 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Interpol General Secretariat

PARAMARIBO – The Public Prosecution Service (OM) in Suriname has initiated an official process to use the Interpol institute for the international identification of the convicted persons Desire Delano Bouterse and Iwan Leendert Dijksteel. At national level, they have already been traced by order of the Attorney General, and are now also included in the Interpol Red Notice list.

The Public Prosecution Service requests the cooperation of the public and the international community to provide information on the current whereabouts of the named convicts. Individuals with relevant information can contact the Military Police Criminal Investigation Department via telephone number

477642/ 472221, the Command Center at 115, or the Interpol General Secretariat.

Back in January, Surinamese authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Bouterse after he failed to turn himself in to start a prison sentence for involvement in the murder of 15 activists in 1982.

Former President of Suriname, Desire Delano Bouterse

A three-judge panel in December last affirmed the convictions of Bouterse, 78, and four others in the execution of the government critics who included lawyers, journalists, union leaders, soldiers and university professors.

While Bouterse was ordered back in January to report to jail, his wife, Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, had told journalists outside their home “He’s not going to turn himself in.”

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

He has denied the charges but was sentenced to 20 years in prison. One of his co-defendants also failed to report to the prison.

“The public prosecutor’s office has started the process of tracing those convicted in the December 8 criminal case who have not reported to the penal institution as stated in the order for execution of sentences,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement back in January.

Advocates, including Sunil Oemrawsingh, president of an association of relatives of victims in the so-called December murders, and international observers said it was not surprising that Bouterse did not show.