Decembermoorden
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December Murders - On December 8, 1982 thirteen civilians and two military officials who opposed the military rule in Suriname were executed in Paramaribo. The circumstances have not become completely clear yet; at the time the Suriname military dictatorship of Desi Bouterse claimed all were shot while trying to flee. Others have spoken of torture, murder and summary execution.
The December Murders led to international protests. Former colonial power The Netherlands froze development-aid afterwards. Anno 2005, long after the military dictatorship ended, nobody has ever stood trial for his part in the murders, although legal proceedings are being prepared.
By mid-2002 more than 160 people had reportedly testified in the investigation into the 1982 “December murders” in which 15 journalists, academics and labour leaders were extrajudicially executed at Fort Zeelandia, an army centre in Paramaribo. In May and September, Surinamese investigators went to the Netherlands to hear testimony from people there. Lawyers for Desi Bouterse, the coup-installed military leader of Suriname at the time of the killings, were allowed to attend the hearings in the Netherlands. According to some reports, this caused some people to “adjust” their testimony out of fear of reprisals. In June a team of forensic experts from the Netherlands Forensic Institute visited Suriname and in December they returned and played an advisory role during the exhumation of the bodies of the victims.
[edit] Victims of the December murders
- John Baboeram, lawyer
- Bram Behr, journalist
- Cyrill Daal, unionleader
- Kenneth Gonçalves, lawyer
- Eddy Hoost, lawyer
- André Kamperveen, journalist
- Gerard Leckie, university faculty
- Sugrim Oemrawsingh, university faculty
- Lesley Rahman, journalist
- Surendre Rambocus, military
- Harold Riedewald, lawyer
- Jiwansingh Sheombar, military
- Jozef Slagveer, journalist
- Robby Sohansingh, businessman
- Frank Wijngaarde, journalist (with Dutch citizenship)
