The Netherlands will respect the result of the Suriname general election but cannot forget the past of winning alliance leader Desi Bouterse, foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen said on Wednesday.

According to preliminary results, a coalition led by former military leader and convicted trafficker Bouters emerged as the winner of the Tuesday vote with 23 of the 51 seats in parliament.
Bouterse was sentenced to jail for drugs smuggling in the Netherlands but avoided jail because Suriname, a former Dutch colony, does not extradite its own citizens. He is currently on trial for his role in killing 15 political opponents in 1982.
‘Bouterse has been sentenced to an 11-year prison term in the Netherlands for drug dealing and in Suriname a case about the murders of December 1982 is still proceeding. We cannot brush all that away,’ Verhagen said.
Suriname became a Dutch colony in the 17th century and gained full independence in 1975.
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