Suriname government apologizes for abuse of journalist

Surinamese vice president Ronnie Brunswijk, president Chan Santokhi and parliament speaker Marinus Bee have apologized for the mistreatment of Surinamese journalist Jason Pinas by security officers from Brunswijk last Tuesday. The apologies came immediately after the start of a meeting of parliament. As a result of the abuse, there was also a silent protest by Surinamese journalists from various media on Thursday in front of the building in which the parliament sits. On Wednesday they already decided to boycott Brunswijk for at least two months.

Santokhi said at Thursday’s meeting that he has ordered the prosecution to conduct an independent investigation into the assault “as soon as possible”. He also promised to release images of the incident. On Wednesday, Santokhi said he regretted the incident, but did not apologize at the time. Brunswijk previously said he was not responsible for the behavior of his security officers.

Jason Pinas is a journalist at The True Time, the largest newspaper in Suriname. When he took a photo of Brunswijk with his phone in front of the parliament building on Tuesday, the security officers of the deputy prime minister violently took his phone, held it in a stranglehold and threw it on the ground, Pinas told Suriname news website on Tuesday. Star news. He was then allegedly beaten and kicked. Pinas, together with his deputy editor-in-chief, reported the incident. “I have reported what happened and I sincerely hope that something is done about it,” the journalist told Star news.