A prosecutor on Wednesday recommended a 20-year prison sentence for President Desi Bouterse for his role in the December 1982 killing of 15 prominent political opponents in this South American country.

Prosecutor Roy Elgin told a court in a summation of evidence from a trial that has dragged on for years that there is sufficient proof that Bouterse was present when troops under his command summarily executed opponents of his then-military dictatorship.

The executions of union leaders, activists and journalists inside a colonial fort in the capital city of Paramaribo are referred to in Suriname as the “December killings,” and are considered one of the most significant political events in the country’s modern history.

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