PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Bronto Somohardjo, leader of the Progressive Labour (PL) parliamentary faction in Suriname, has formally requested the country’s Prosecutor General to release detailed data on prosecution decisions made by the Public Prosecution Service (OM), in a push to verify whether all criminal suspects receive equal treatment regardless of their ethnicity, financial standing, or social influence. Starnieuws, a local Surinamese news outlet, has obtained a copy of the written request Somohardjo sent to the top prosecutor.
As a member of Suriname’s National Assembly, Somohardjo specifically asked for disaggregated data covering five major categories of crime: drug offenses, violent crimes, domestic violence, theft, and fraud. He wants the data broken down by registered ethnic categories of suspects, showing how many people from each group were accused of each offense type, how many ultimately faced prosecution, and how many cases were dismissed or resolved through out-of-court settlements.
Somohardjo argues that as a multi-ethnic nation, every Surinamese citizen is entitled to confidence that their ethnic background will not factor into whether they are prosecuted for an alleged offense. In his letter, he questioned how the Public Prosecution Service currently monitors for such bias, noting that law enforcement reports regularly reference a suspect’s ethnic background. He wants to confirm whether the OM systematically records this data and whether it has ever used these records to investigate disparities in prosecution outcomes.
The request goes beyond ethnic bias, also seeking to examine whether wealth, social status, and personal connections impact how criminal cases are handled. Somohardjo questioned whether well-connected, financially powerful suspects receive the same treatment as ordinary Surinamese citizens without those advantages, saying this question demands a formal answer from the prosecution.
He requested all data dating back to August 2020, split by calendar year and offense category, to allow for a fact-based, verifiable assessment of how comparable criminal cases are processed across different groups.
Somohardjo also referenced an October 13 opinion column published on Starnieuws that prompted an immediate public response and clarification from the OM on several active criminal cases. In his letter, he noted he welcomed the OM’s quick reaction to that column, and said he expects his questions about general prosecution policy will receive the same prompt attention.
Ultimately, Somohardjo’s request aims to bring greater transparency to the OM’s prosecution decision-making process, and to confirm that sufficient safeguards are in place to guarantee equal treatment for all criminal suspects in Suriname.