Priest Toon te Dorsthorst.
PARAMARIBO--The fifteen men who were killed on December 8, 1982, by the then military leadership of Suriname, deserve a monument, Catholic priest Antonius te Dorsthorst said on Saturday at the commemoration of the “December Murders.” Father “Toon,” who was speaking at the annual memorial service in the St. Alfonsius church in Paramaribo, said the names of the men should be mentioned with honour and respect, just like those of the famous Surinamese Maroon heroes Baron, Boni and Jolicoeur.
The 15 men, political opponents of then military leader of Suriname, now President Desi Bouterse, were killed in the historic Fort Zeelandia in Paramaribo on December 8, 1982. President Bouterse heads a list of 24 defendants – some of whom have meanwhile passed away –, finally on trial for the murders.
Father te Dorsthorst told the relatives of the men not to lose hope. “Sometimes you wonder if a memorial is still necessary, but the number of people who attend this service every year and the number of people watching from home, tells us that it still serves a purpose,” he said. He said the truth cannot stay hidden for ever, hinting that it took more than 35 years for the trial against the suspects to finally get underway in 2007. “People in power might be able to keep the truth from coming out, but they cannot do that forever.”
The trial is slowly inching to an end, with Military Prosecutor Roy Elgin having finalised his recommendations for punishment as recently as last week; he demanded 20 years each for Bouterse and three other former colonels.
Te Dorsthorst said the relatives of the victims may now look forward to an important step toward the truth, but he also stressed that they should remain aware that this truth may not automatically translate to justice. “There might be powers that will counter the exercise of the law – people who will want to create their own truths, who will try to make alternative truths find their way. But the murder of defenceless people is not just murder, it’s called political violence,” he said.
He also mentioned two other massacres that took place in the 1980s under military rule – at the village of Moiwana and at Tjonga Langa Pasi. “That was political violence.”
Father Toon, who has lived in Suriname since the early 1980s, has long been a critique of President Bouterse and a proponent of the December Murders trial. “I have been doing church work in the hinterland for over 46 years,” he said during his lengthy speech, in which he relayed personal experiences with armed groups that formed in the 1980s. “[Some of the things – Ed.] I have come across were orchestrated by Mr. Bouterse and could be construed as treason. Mind you, I am not saying that he is a traitor; I am saying that these things could be considered treason. It was conscious violation of the integrity of the people of Suriname, for personal gain. How is it possible that this could have happened without punishment for so many years?”
