|
Monday, March 31, 2014
Lawyers representing the son of Suriname?s President Desi Bouterse are moving to have the case against him dismissed. The lawyers have filed a 30 page affidavit in the Court of the Southern District of New York, arguing that United States law enforcement authorities misrepresented their case when they had Dino Bouterse, 41 extradited from Panama where he had been arrested. The lawyers claim that Washington also unlawfully added terrorism charges to his indictment on illegal gun running charges.
According to the US authorities, Dino Bouterse had been caught on tape offering his services to purported members of Hezbollah in return for an initial two million US dollar pay-off he expected to come from Iran and he had shipped 10 kilograms of cocaine from Suriname to the United States and brandished firearms. It turned out later that the purported Hezbollah members he had been meeting were agents of the US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Bouterse could face up to life in prison if convicted on the charges. But his New York based lawyers believe that the cases against him should be dismissed because the narcotics and firearm indication occurred while he was outside of US territorial jurisdiction. The attorneys said that rather than starting a regular extradition proceeding under its extradition treaty with Panama, Washington requested the immediate surrender of Bouterse, alleging a danger to Panama if he were to remain in the country.
|
