Cynthia Valstein-Montnor

Cynthia Valstein-Montnor (* approx. 1956) is a Surinamese judge .

biography

education

Two years before Suriname gained independence in 1975, Cynthia Valstein-Montnor went to the Netherlands to study law at the universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam . Her focus was on consumer law and international commercial law . She wrote her master's thesis on the Lomé Convention . In the 1980s she returned to Suriname, where she worked as a lawyer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the mid-1990s, she began her training as a judge, and in 1998 she became the first woman to be appointed to the Suriname Court of Justice . In 2011 she became the first woman President of the Court of Justice, after previously serving as its Vice-President. The Dutch daily Trouw characterized them as “Strict. Fearless. Brave. Independently."

Trial of the December Murders

The preliminary judicial investigation into the December murders began in 2000 , in which fifteen opponents of Desi Bouterse's military regime were killed in 1982 . The trial began 25 years after the crime in 2007, and Valstein-Montnor was appointed president of the court martial, which has jurisdiction over the involvement of the military. Bouterse's attorney, Irvin Kanhai, tried to deny her as biased, but that bias motion was denied along with others. Among other things, the reason given for bias was that Valstein's husband had rented a gym of the opposition party Nationale Partij Suriname (NPS) for his martial arts lessons . In addition, the judge and her colleagues Suzanne Chu and Rewita Chatterpal have been discredited, attacked and insulted for years.

Desi Bouterse, the main defendant in the December murders trial , was elected President of Suriname in 2010. Shortly before his inauguration, Cynthia Valstein-Montnor stated : “The court martial is dealing with a criminal case. We will not allow political developments to stand in the way. All defendants have the same status in court. ”Because of her steadfastness, she was severely attacked by the Bouterse government: Justice Minister Jennifer van Dijk-Silos claimed that the court was“ trampling on the rule of law ”by continuing the trial against Bouterse. MEP Rachied Doekhie called on Bouterse to “let the judges go to hell” and her colleague Melvin Bouva, vice-president of the Surinamese parliament, said that the judges in Suriname had never been able to handle such a large criminal case respectively.

On November 29, 2019, more than twelve years after the start of the trial, the military court chaired by Cynthia Valsein-Monthor sentenced President Bouterse to 20 years in prison, and other defendants also received long prison terms. The Surinamese political scientist Hans Breeveld described the judgment and its justification as a “legal masterpiece”.

The sentences could not be carried out by April 2020 because not all appeal options have been exhausted and Bouterse enjoys political immunity as president .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Pieter van Maele: Een dappere right in Suriname. In: trouw.nl. February 8, 2017, accessed April 18, 2020 (Dutch). 
2. ↑ Cynthia Valstein-Montnor wnd president Hof Justitie. In: starnieuws.com. April 18, 2020, accessed April 18, 2020 . 
3. ^ Tonny van der Mee: Bouterse vreest deze drie dappere vrouwen. In: ad.nl. August 5, 2016, accessed April 18, 2020 (Dutch). 
4. ↑ De Zwijgende Meerderheid. In: starnieuws.com. April 24, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020 . 
5. ^ President of Suriname convicted. In: bote.ch. November 30, 2019, accessed April 16, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Krijgsraad Suriname veroordeelt nog voor zes suspicions Decembermoorden. In: Volkskrant . November 30, 2019, accessed November 30, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Twintig jaar cel voor Bouterse. In: srherald.com. November 29, 2019, accessed April 16, 2020 (Dutch). 
8. ↑ Surinaamse president Desi Bouterse veroordeeld voor decembermoorden in 1982. In: hln.be. November 30, 2019, accessed April 16, 2020 (Dutch).