PARAMAIRBO, Suriname (CMC) — President Desi Bouterse on Wednesday moved to block the resumption of the December murders trial by instructing the public prosecutor’s office to halt the prosecution of all the suspects in the case.

The Military Court was scheduled to resume hearings Thursday in the trial of the 24 people, including Bouterse, accused of murdering 15 people on December 8, 1982.

Addressing the National Assembly in a closed session on Wednesday, Bouterse said that government was invoking article 148 of the Constitution that states that “government decides the general prosecution policy” and that “in the interest of matters of state security government may give the attorney general instructions regarding prosecution”.

It is the first time this article is being used and legal scholars monitoring recent developments in the country had hinted that Bouterse might use some obscure loophole in the constitution to end the trial.

It is not clear as yet when and how the December murders trial will resume. Justice and Police Minister Jennifer Van Dijk-Silos has, meanwhile, said that government would provide the prosecution with specific instructions. She did not elaborate.

On June 2, the Military Court ruled that the Amnesty Law — which the Parliament passed in 2012 and was criticiaed by human rights groups as an attempt to shield Bouterse — was unlawful.

The trial began in 2007 and, after many adjournments, was set to resume yesterday with the prosecution indicating the sentence it wanted for the 24 men accused of killing the 15 men who were regarded as opponents of Bouterse , who was then the military ruler of the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community country.

But Bouterse rejected the Military Court ruling and said that it had created a “constitutional crisis” which had placed the state security in peril.

He also claimed that the ruling had been orchestrated by unnamed “external” forces” who were aiming to create chaos in the country.

Bouterse met with the president of the court, the police, the military and the diplomatic corps to “inform them about the crisis”.

This latest derailment of the court case has been met with anger, confusion and disappointment by relatives of those killed.

“Bouterse always knows how to magically make a rabbit appear from the high hat,” said Romeo Hoost of the Committee Commemorating the Victims in Suriname.

“He does not want to be confronted with his barbaric crimes from the past,” Said Hoost, whose cousin, Eddy Hoost, was among those killed.

The committee chairman said he wants a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that recently agreed to a US$874-million loan to assist the government deal with the ongoing economic crisis.

“I hope that the IMF and other international organisations that co-operate with him are aware of whattype of person they are dealing with. We want to clarify that for them,” said Hoost.

Opposition parliamentarian Mahinder Jogi said that Bouterse was again guilty of disturbing an ongoing court trial.

“He did so in 2012 when the amendments to the Amnesty Law were passed and he does it again by invoking Article 148.”

Betty Goede Jong-a-Liem, who chairs the Organisation for Justice, said her organisation had hoped something like this would not have happen.

“We took it into consideration, but we had hoped that the government of a country would not go this far to protect one person or a group of persons,” she said.