Minister of State Winnie Sorgdrager (D66) says that in 1997 as Minister of Justice she was “opposed” by her then party leader and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans van Mierlo in an attempt to arrest the then Surinamese army chief Desi Bouterse, who was suspected of large-scale cocaine trafficking.
In the summer of 1997, Van Mierlo managed to prevent the Dutch justice system from asking Brazil to arrest Bouterse, who had been under criminal investigation for years in The Hague for drug trafficking by the specially established so-called CoPa team. The then Surinamese army chief had been spotted in Brazil by a Dutch diplomat. When in August 1997 judicial sources via NRC Handelsblad Mentioned Van Mierlo’s intervention, he said he did not request the arrest because he had information that Brazil would not have cooperated in an arrest of Bouterse.
Statements in NRC podcast
Opposite the makers of the NRC podcast The secret of Rijswijk Winnie Sorgdrager in episode 6 now for the first time told that she was “angry” about the actions of Van Mierlo, who died in 2010. She says, like her justice employees, that she has become “frustrated” by the actions of Minister Van Mierlo. According to her, her party leader did not leave Bouterse undisturbed because he was afraid that Brazil would be a problem, but out of love for Suriname.
Also read: After telephone conversation with Sorgdrager; Van Mierlo prevented Bouterse’s arrest
“He called me and says: yes, at your ministry, they are now out to have Bouterse arrested in Brazil via an extradition request. And that shouldn’t happen. I say: why not? And I remember we had a whole conversation about that, because I said, listen, if that man is a criminal and he has to be caught, then he has to be caught. But he said: yes, the relationship with Suriname is already so difficult and we should just not do that. And well, short and sweet, I let my party leader talk me into it and said to the people of justice: well, never mind.”
Also read the message that NRC wrote in 1997: Bouterse undisturbed to Brazil
‘He loved Suriname’
Sorgdrager says that Van Mierlo “loved Suriname” and therefore did not want to arrest the de facto ruler. “He once told me that: I’m just in love with that country. And that will undoubtedly have played a part.”
The actions of Sorgdrager and Van Mierlo led to a lot of criticism from the House of Representatives at the time. Sorgdrager says he did not dare to oppose her political boss. “Imagine if I had said to Van Mierlo: sorry you can find that, but I stick to my own idea of: we will pick him up. Then you have to go to the Prime Minister (Wim Kok, ed.) as two D66 ministers and he has to settle the dispute. Well, I didn’t like that prospect either.”
Bouterse was eventually sentenced in absentia in the Netherlands to eleven years in prison for trafficking in cocaine. He has not served a day of that prison sentence.
In the podcast ‘The secret of Rijswijk’, NRC investigates whether there were political reasons not to get to the bottom of the 1985 attack in Rijswijk, in which three people died. The case has never been resolved. There are strong indications that the attack, which killed three rehearsing musicians, was intended for the Liberation Council of Suriname. This resistance organization against the then military Bouterse regime usually met in the same building as where the musicians practiced.
#Sorgdrager #Van #Mierlo #opposed #justice #attempting #Bouterse #arrested #relationship #Suriname