(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO — ‘We don’t have the tools to prove it, but it is common knowledge that phones are tapped and people are tailed. Every politician knows it, but no one dares say something about it,’ opposition legislator Guno Castelen tells de Ware Tijd .
The legislator says that the government abuses its powers to be one step ahead of political opponents as part of its strategy to intimidate people who are against the controversial Amnesty Act. At the ceremony commemorating Fred Derby, first chair and founder of the Suriname Labor Party (SPA), incumbent chair Castelen called on society to fight for upholding the constitutional state and democracy, just like Derby. The struggle these days would be against the controversial Amnesty Act.
In his speech Castelen repeated accusations by the government that citizens are criticizing their own country abroad. Castelen explained that the accusations stem from the fact that the opposition reported its view on the Amnesty Act to the Inter Parliamentary Union. Furthermore the opposition has directed a formal request to the European Union to be heard in this matter when the Article-8 dialogue takes place on May 30. ‘So if they want to listen in on our conversations with people abroad or tail us, we’ll continue to fight for the constitutional state and democracy. Coalition legislator and one of the initiators of the amended Amnesty Act, Henk Ramnandanlal, can neither confirm nor deny accusations of bugging and tailing. ‘We know the strategies employed by the opposition, so we expect them to create scenarios that would have others believe that the constitutional state is threatened. Everybody has a right to appeal a decision, but we have applied the rules. It is a democratic decision, but they clearly refuse to accept it.’
