Bouterse Trial Moving Closer

At the end of January the team of lawyers preparing to prosecute former military ruler Desi Bouterse and others on charges of murdering political opponents in the early 1980s, denied allegations that their legal action was politically motivated. Bouterse first seized power in a military coup in 1980, five years after the country gained independence from the Netherlands. The events at the centre of the case against him took place on December 7 1982, when 15 opponents of his regime, including intellectuals, politicians, trade unionists, lawyers, and journalists were rounded up by soldiers and executed in Fort Zeelandia in the

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