Court martial rejects opposition objections, substantive treatment can continue

At 9 a.m. this morning, there was a new hearing in Suriname during the December 8 appeal trial against former President Desi Bouterse. Today, the judge ruled on the exceptions of Bouterse’s lawyer, Irwin Kanhai. The result is that the process can continue; all the exceptions have just been dismissed by the court martial.

The court martial ruled earlier that the amnesty law could not apply and continued with the process. Kanhai is of the opinion that it is not the court martial but only a civilian judge who can judge the amnesty law. This would render the court martial unable to continue the trial and Kanhai objected.

With the rejection of Kanhai’s exceptions, a start can be made on the substantive treatment of Bouterse’s default judgment, as Kanhai also reported yesterday. The hearing has been adjourned until April 30, 2021, after which the substantive proceedings will begin.