By Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com
PARAMARIBO, Suriname: In a unanimous vote, Suriname’s parliament has ratified the European Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, allowing foreign prisoners to serve sentences in their homelands.
Defending the bill to facilitate the ratification, justice minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi noted that the convention will improve international cooperation in the field of sentencing and rehabilitation of convicts.
Foreign prisoners can only be transferred to their native country at their own request, which should be approved by both the country where they were convicted and their homeland.
Taking into account that prison conditions in Europe are better than correctional facilities in Suriname, it is more likely that mostly convicted European nationals will opt for transfer. Currently 84 foreigners are being held in Surinamese prisons including 19 Dutch nationals, 29 Guyanese, 8 Columbians and 19 Brazilians.
According to Santokhi, 100 Surinamese nationals are currently being held in Dutch prisons, 5 in Cuba, 4 in several South American nations, and 4 in other European countries.
In ratifying the convention, Suriname however made some reservations, amongst them the condition that all requests for prison transfers should be submitted through diplomatic channels. Approval of these request may be given only by the ministers of justice of countries involved, while requests should be written in Dutch to avoid translation differences.
Suriname already signed similar, but bilateral agreements regarding prisoner’s transfers with Great Britain in 2002 and with Brazil in 2005. Since the country has ratified the European convention on this matter, signing bilateral agreements with other EU member states becomes unnecessary. |
