–evidence sought in high seas piracy as requested

MINISTER of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan on Thursday said he is confident that local detectives will receive the documents which they have requested from Suriname to aid in the successful prosecution of persons who have been arrested here in connection with the piracy attack of April, 2018.

Ramjattan was at the time responding to questions on the status of the request which was made through his office to the office of the security minister in the neighbouring Dutch-speaking territory.

Local detectives have requested, among other things, the statements taken in the matters as well as the postmortem reports for those whose bodies were recovered after the piracy attack. The requests were made after a number of persons were arrested locally in connection with the crime.

Some have been charged while others are still in custody. “The requests have been made, and I have not gotten back in contact with them but my treaty officer in the ministry told me there has been no response just yet,” Ramjattan explained.

The minister said that he is aware of the processes in that country as it relates to putting together certain files for certain cases, and as such the country ought to be given the time to do its work, since the two countries go about doing their work differently.
“They are awaiting for the death certificates and the DNA tests because they want to make sure that there is evidence,” Minister Ramjattan said, adding:

“In our law, we would accept the markings and decomposed bodies as our evidence, but with them it’s a different system and we must respect their system.”
When it comes to the statements which were requested by the local detectives, the minister said that arrangements are being made to have them translated into English since they were all taken in Dutch, but gave every assurance that those statements would be here shortly, once the translation process is properly done.

The minister was also asked about the arrest here, without being charged, of persons believed to be involved in piracy or related activities. Asked specifically about the legality of keeping those persons in detention for prolonged periods, Minister Ramjattan said:

“Well, as long as I think the law allows us, we have methods of doing that. And then we also go to the court and ask for extension of time because these are very serious crimes.”
He said that while it is understood that such people have their human rights, the executive and the police must be allowed in these circumstances to do their work.
Noting that this is why the anti-piracy act is so clear, the minister said:

“We can use that to extend their stay for a long period, and international collaboration and judges should understand that we need the statements from overseas that would come soon.

“You don’t just want to release these guys like that, because if you release them, they are gone. And then we would have to hunt them down and then I will get a lot of criticism as to why did you release them.”