PARAMARIBO--Justice and Police Minister Jennifer van Dijk-Silos has said that four men who died in a police shootout four years ago “were shot dead like chickens.” She said that if the family would seek damages from Government over these killings, there is “no way Government would win that case.”
The Minister made the statements in a radio interview earlier this week, during which she was responding to criticism from her predecessor, Parliamentarian Edward Belfort. Belfort had gone on the attack after Van Dijk-Silos praised police officers who shot dead three men who had been caught red handed robbing a store on Saturday, September 18.
“I do not like raising this matter that is hurtful to the family and to the entire country. But if people field disgusting criticism against me, I have to remind them that they were there when four men were killed like chickens four years ago at Tout Lui Faut. I am talking about my predecessor who is now a parliamentarian and before that was a police commissioner.”
She lamented Belfort’s attacks, calling them unwarranted. “I praised the officers for their good work and he criticised me. I am sure he would have attacked me as well if I had not praised the officers.”
The Minister said that Belfort should know better than to point fingers. “He was there at Tout Lui Faut and he didn’t say anything back then in 2012. These men were unarmed and they did not deserve to be shot dead like chickens. And now, while I was not in charge then, I am the one fixing that mess,” she said.
The killings on June 13, 2012 of Errol Harryson, Jules Goddard, Kenneth Amzink and Urbian Burleson were initially almost welcomed by some, as the foursome was said to be responsible for a spate of violent robberies in Paramaribo. They were reportedly cornered by police in the rural residential area of Tout Lui Fout after their last robbery of a jewellery store in Paramaribo and according to police statements a shootout ensued. Authorities said the joint police/military patrol was forced to respond when the heavily armed criminals opened fire.
Part of the loot of the robbery was found in their car and many people at first seemed to sigh in relief, but when photographs of their bullet riddled bodies and cars surfaced, rumours mounted that these had been extrajudicial executions. The Prosecutor’s Office that had initially lauded the police for making the streets safer, initiated an investigation when the rumours persisted.
In 2015 local human rights organisation Allied Collective (AC) requested that the human rights arm of the Organisation of American States IACHR carry out an independent inquiry. AC said that it doubted whether the investigation by Suriname authorities would be impartial; it said that if IACHR’s probe showed that the men were executed, their killers should be prosecuted, their names cleared and their families compensated. The investigation by IACHR is still underway, with Government responding in August this year to requests for more information.
The local investigation has meanwhile also been completed. The preliminary report has been presented to the Prosecutor General.
It appears that this is what Minister Van Dijk-Silos was sourcing her statements on live radio from. An attorney, she seems now to have thrown the towel in the ring with regard to this case. “I am honest in these matters; this case cannot be won,” she said.
