In Curacao the OM Believes that People Should be Protected from Suspects of Murder & Rape, Why Don’t they in Aruba?

In Willemstad, Curocao the public prosecutor (OM) believes that suspects of felonies like murder and rape should not be walking the street. The citizens and innocent people walking the streets should not be put in harms way. So why does the public prosecutor in Aruba not feel the same? Why is it not only okay to let suspects walk the street, but also to let them go altogether and close the case even though they believe the suspects played a part in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Suspects of felonies like murder or rape cannot be wandering the streets, just because there is no room in the House of Detention.  “A judge that does that does not recognize dilemmas and because of that neglects his/her duty.”

This is the reaction of the Public Prosecutor on lawyer Eldon ‘Peppie’ Sulvaran’s claim in this paper last Saturday that suspects ‘rot’ in the police-cells longer than the allowable maximum norm of 18 days, due to insufficient room in prison.  “What would the reaction of a victim of a robbery be, if the suspect is released shortly after the committed crime, due to lack of cells and the victim is perhaps still in the hospital?”

Why isn’t the prosecutor in Aruba doing what their job description most certainly states, prosecuting criminals? Not just violent crimes … any crime that a suspected individual has committed. Instead in Aruba, they seem to only prosecute those crimes that those in power give them the okay to. Those suspected of crimes who are people of privilege or are associates of those in power are turned loose under the guise of not enough evidence. However, maybe there would have been enough evidence if investigators had actually properly investigated a crime instead of attempting to covering it up from the start.

OM: Also the citizens ought to be protected (Amigoe, 12/20/2007)

WILLEMSTAD – Suspects of felonies like murder or rape cannot be wandering the streets, just because there is no room in the House of Detention.  “A judge that does that does not recognize dilemmas and because of that neglects his/her duty.”

This is the reaction of the Public Prosecutor on lawyer Eldon ‘Peppie’ Sulvaran’s claim in this paper last Saturday that suspects ‘rot’ in the police-cells longer than the allowable maximum norm of 18 days, due to insufficient room in prison.  “What would the reaction of a victim of a robbery be, if the suspect is released shortly after the committed crime, due to lack of cells and the victim is perhaps still in the hospital?”

The OM has no control over the number of available (police) cells.  It’s the elected Parliament–members that decide on the budget for justice and the priorities.  “Parliament discussed the increase of the punishment for car-robberies recently, but as long as no budget is allocated for decent cell-space that meets international standard, the discussion remains informal”, said the OM.  And this is despite being creative in minimizing the use of cell-capacity by not locking up drug couriers, but instead ban them from travel.  

Sulvaran didn’t only mention the situation of the police-cells.  He specially lashed out against according to him, the high-handedness that seems to exist when the examining magistrate decides on the custody of suspects.  He says that there is no critical thorough dossier investigation preceding the ‘stamp-sessions’ that take place every Tuesday in prison, while the case-prosecutor sends an ‘ignorant’ colleague to be present.  It seems that the custody has already been decided in advance, concludes Sulvaran.  

The OM mentions in its written reaction that “the prosecution of suspects is explicitly reserved for an objective and professional instance to avoid political prosecution for example, like the ones that took place in the former Soviet-Union.  Basic assumption is that everybody is innocent until proven guilty and sentenced in the court of law.” 

During the custody, for which the OM takes the initiative and the judge checks whether it is correct, ‘the suspect is represented by his lawyer and he can appeal that custody’.  “The OM is required to follow the judge’s custody order.  Immediately after he has been arrested, the suspect is put in a police-cell, but according to the Criminal Code, after a maximum of 10 days in custody and if the judge orders detention after that, he/she must be locked up in a House of Detention.