Bouterse says supporters of Dec 8 trial are not consequent

Desi Bouterse, prime suspect in the December 8 trial, recently pointed out that the people who would like to see him convicted are not consequent. He explained that the status of the constitutional state is dragged into the trail proceedings at random. “When they want it to be a constitutional state, it becomes a constitutional state and when they want it to be a police state, it becomes a police state,” said the president in response to the many directions in which the legal proceedings that started almost ten years ago are headed. “We must look at our consequent and inconsequent behavior.” The trial started about a year ago. It was the same constitution, the same judge, the same attorneys and the same documents but it seemed as if things were not going to go as some people had expected it to go. Then they claimed that there was no constitutional state on the country,” said Bouterse in response to the attitude of the supporters of the trial. Now that the Military Court has decided to ignore the order that the Prosecutor’s Office had been given by the president, they display a different attitude. The president explained that when things go in the direction the supporters had hoped it to go, they claim that the constitutional state has prevailed. Bouterse pointed out that one must not rule out the possibility that things will go a different direction again when Judge Advocate Roy Elgin gives his closing speech on February 9. He hinted at the possibility that things could once again turn in favor of the suspects. “Then people will start screaming again that the constitutional state has been broken and that it has become a police state.”