Justice and amnesty in Suriname

Judge Cynthia Valstein-Montnor

A military court in Suriname has invalidated a 2012 amnesty law that would have prevented the trial of President Desi Bouterse for murders committed in 1982. This news report advises:

A constitutional court was supposed to verify whether the amnesty law was legitimate, but such a court was never created. Four years later, the military court announced it had waited long enough. 

“There is no sight of concrete actions by the government on when the court will be operational”, said Judge Cynthia Valstein-Montnor, president of the military court. 

She said local laws allow any judge to determine whether a law is in breach of the constitution. Valstein-Montnor said she found the amnesty law unconstitutional because Parliament approved it when the trial was ongoing and nearing its end. She also said the law violated of several human rights treaties that Suriname had signed in the past.