Paul Bhagwandas

Paul Bhagwandas (30 November 1950 – 9 July 1996) was one of the sergeants who committed a military coup in Suriname on 25 February 1980 and at the time of the military command in Suriname (1980–1987) battalion commander and as such, the third man after Dési Bouterse and Roy Horb. Because of his cruel acts he was known as the executioner of Fort Zeelandia.^[1]

Life

As was the case with Dési Bouterse, Bhagwandas too was educated in the Netherlands, where he rose to sergeant and was trained at the Royal Military School in Weert after which he went to work in the Dutch military. After the independence of Suriname in 1975, he returned with a number of other Surinamese soldiers to go back to his homeland to work there for the new Surinamese Armed Forces (Dutch: Surinaamse Krijgsmacht) (SKM).^[1]

Coup d'état

Along with fifteen others, Bhagwandas committed a coup d'état in Suriname, known as the Sergeants' Coup on 25 February 1980. Soon after as the discontent had increased among the population, Bhagwandas suggested taking possible action, stating that it was necessary to do something drastic to save the "revolution", at a meeting of the military in early December. In the following days it was decided to address a number of opponents of the military government. Bhagwandas was in charge of the arrests and the internment of the arrested people in Fort Zeelandia.^[1]

December Murders

After the arrests, Bouterse would take place in his office, and reportedly gave Bhagwandas the orders to bring the captives to him one by one. Bhagwandas was reported to have been present when Bouterse made the decision to execute the captives and was himself involved in the execution of at least two of the hostages which were carried out by Bouterse himself. When Bouterse had suggested that one of the hostages be spared, namely trade unionist Fred Derby, it was Bhagwandas who disagreed stating that they all should be killed. He was present for the remaining executions which took place on the inner courtyard of the barracks as well.^[1]

Insolent football coach

Bhagwandas left the military in the mid-eighties to work in other areas. Amongst other things he got involved with the Surinamese Football Association (Dutch, Surinaamse Voetbal Bond) (SVB). In the André Kamperveen Stadion, named after André Kamperveen, a prominent Surinamese football player, sports administrator, politician and businessman, whom Bhagwandas quite possibly murdered himself in the December murders, is where Bhagwandas would take on the shameless task as manager of the Suriname national football team in 1989.^[2]

In 1993, Voetbal International published an article about the questionable Surinamese football coach. Henri Does of the Surinamese organization SAWO wrote the following:

“André Kamperveen is op 8 december 1982 op een schandelijke wijze gefolterd en om het leven gebracht. Nu heb je dus de vervreemdende situatie dat Bhagwandas aan de touwtjes trekt in het André Kamperveenstadion, als bondscoach internationale uitstraling heeft, terwijl hij één van de hoofdverdachten is van de Decembermoorden. Dat is een enorme morele verloedering.”

— Does, 1993

Translation:

"André Kamperveen was shamefully tortured and killed on 8 December 1982. Now you have the alienating situation where Bhagwandas is pulling the strings in the André Kamperveen Stadium, as coach he has international appeal, while he is one of the main suspects in the December Murders. That is a huge moral degeneration. "

— Does, 1993

Declaration and death

Henri Behr, brother of the murdered journalist Bram Behr, visited Bhagwandas in his house shortly before his passing in 1996, and Bhagwandas admitted to having been involved in the murder of his brother. According to Behr, Bhagwandas stated that Bouterse himself was present, and that he had even murdered Surendre Rambocus and Cyrill Daal. Behr secretly recorded a part of the conversation. and turned the tape in to the now deceased chairman of the Surinamese human right organization OGV (Organisatie voor Gerechtigheid en Vrede) (English, Organization for Justice and Peace), the tape has since been lost. Bhagwandas died in 1996 after fighting a long battle with cancer.^[3]

References