Suriname amnesty bill would halt trial of president Bouterse in 1982 killing of opponents

President Desi Bouterse

Lawmakers in Suriname ( a former Dutch Colony which became independent in 1975)  have proposed an amnesty law that would end the long-running trial of President Desi Bouterse, who is accused along with former military associates of abducting and killing opponents of his dictatorship in 1982.

Members of Bouterse’s Mega Combination introduced the legislation Monday, and Andre Misiekaba, the party’s whip, predicted in an interview on state television Tuesday it would pass the parliament by the end of the week.

The bill amends an earlier amnesty law to include any offenses “in the context of the defense of the state,” between April 1, 1980, and Aug. 19, 1992. That time frame would encompass the country’s military dictatorship and civil war.

Bouterse became president in a parliamentary vote in 2010, but he was a military dictator for much of the 1980s. He and his supporters in the military are accused of arresting 15 prominent opposition leaders, including journalists, lawyers and a trade union leader, and executing them in a colonial fort in the capital, Paramaribo.

For more: Suriname amnesty bill would halt trial of president in 1982 killing of opponents - The Washington Post