PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC) – Suriname police have remained mum on media reports that they searched the home of former president Desi Bouterse, who earlier this year had been sentenced to 20 years in jail on murder charges.

Media reports said that the police raided the homes of Bouterse and Iwan Dijksteel, who is also on the run after they were both charged with the December 8, 1982, murders of 15 men including journalists, military officers, union leaders, lawyers, businessmen and university lecturers. Dijksteel, who had been Bouterse’s bodyguard ,was jailed for 15 years.

The prosecution had alleged that the men were arrested on the nights of December 7 and 8, and transferred to Fort Zeelandia, the then headquarters of the Surinamese National Army. They said the men were tortured and summarily executed.

Bouterse, who was not present when the Court of Justice had issued the ruling in December last year, appealed against his conviction that had been handed down in August 2021, when the Court Martial of Suriname upheld the 2019 military court ruling of a 20-year-jail term following a trial that had been going on for several years.

In 2017, Bouterse, along with 23 co-defendants, appeared in the military court after the Court of Justice had earlier rejected a motion to stop the trial.

The media reports said that the raids were being carried out as part of operation ‘Christmas bread’ and that it is not clear whether the raids had been based on specific ‘intelligence information” given that neither of the men were at their homes.

The Suriname Police Force has not issued any statement regarding the raids.

Bouterse has been placed on an International Police (INTERPOL) Red Notice list, which is an official request to law enforcement authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is based on an arrest or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country.

The lawyer representing the relatives of the 15 people killed on December 8, 1982, has since called on the government to offer a reward leading to the arrest of Bouterse.

In his open letter to President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi, the attorney, Hugo Essed, said he is requesting that everything be done to ensure that all those convicted of the crime be captured and jailed in accordance with the court ruling.

Bouterse, 79, a former military officer, served as president from 2010- 2020. But from 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname’s de facto leader after conducting a military coup and establishing a period of military rule.