LatinNews Daily Report - 05 April 2012

Suriname | Amnesty law approved. On 4 April Suriname’s national assembly approved an amnesty law that allows Suriname’s President, Desi Bouterse, to escape investigation for alleged human rights violations committed under his military rule (1980-1991).  The national assembly, which is dominated by Bouterse’s coalition, passed the bill by 28:12.  The law had attracted concern from human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. Legal proceedings against Bouterse and 24 of his associates began in November 2007 but have faced repeated delays. The defendants are accused of the extrajudicial executions of 15 opponents of the military regime in December 1982. In 1999 Bouterse was also convicted by a Dutch court of trafficking cocaine from Suriname to the Netherlands, but he has evaded a prison sentence because, under local law, he cannot be extradited.

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