Suriname court convicts President Bouterse of murder for 1982 executions
NOVEMBER 29, 2019 / 12:44 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
3 MIN READ
PARAMARIBO (Reuters) - A court in Suriname on Friday convicted President Desi Bouterse of murder for the execution of 15 opponents in 1982 during an earlier term as military ruler of the South American country after he and other soldiers led a violent coup to seize power.
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Bouterse has dominated much of the history of Suriname since its 1975 independence from the Netherlands. He led the country of 560,000 people through the 1980s, assumed office again in 2010 and secured re-election five years later.
The military court on Friday ruled that Bouterse had overseen an operation in which soldiers under his command abducted 16 leading government critics - including lawyers, journalists and university teachers - from their homes and killed 15 of them at a colonial fortress in Paramaribo.
One trade union leader survived and later gave testimony against Bouterse.
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