The Public Prosecution announced on Friday afternoon that Bouterse and his former bodyguard, Ewan Dijksteel, were being tracked.

Bouterse is said to have traveled to Brazil on a foreign company’s plane. It was heard that he may have traveled from there to Venezuela Suriname times From the sources. According to the newspaper, Bouterse had already left the country on December 17. This was three days before he was convicted by the Court of Justice for his leading role in the killing of fifteen opponents of his regime in 1982.

There is a lot of uncertainty about Bouterse’s whereabouts. A number of his supporters gathered at his home to express solidarity with the Bouterse family. The official spokesman had announced earlier that Bouterse would address the people and there was a large press presence. Then his wife, Ingrid Butters-Waldering, said that her husband was not there and that she did not know where he was. Party members claimed that their president was still in Suriname.

Lawyer Irvin Kanhai was in Santo Poma prison on Friday, where three more people convicted of the December murders reported to be serving their fifteen-year prison sentences. Kanhai told reporters there that he would speak with Bouterse. The lawyer said: “I do not know him except that he bows his head to law and justice.”

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