PARAMARIBO--Police have arrested three men who were seen in video footage shared online last week, beating a suspected thief to a pulp. “Anyone has the right to make a citizen’s arrest. But the suspected criminal must be handed over to the authorities immediately. Anyone caught taking the law into their own hands will be prosecuted,” police said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
In the video footage that appeared on social media networks last week Thursday, a group of men can be seen standing around another man who is sitting on the ground, leaning with his back against a concrete fence that is stained red with his blood. Other people can be heard in the background, some cringing at the sight of the beating.
The man appears totally helpless. His feet are tied with a rope and he begs for mercy as the men take turns beating him with sticks and two-by-fours. At a certain moment one of the men dropkicks him against his head and his head recoils violently.
Police said that while the beating was criminal, mistreatment of the man was totally uncalled for.
The man was apparently spotted by neighbours coming from a vacant lot, where he had gone to pick java berries, or “mope” as this yellow fruit is called in Suriname. The suspicious neighbours caught him, tied him up and started beating on him, after which they allowed him to go. He collapsed a few blocks further down, where police officers who were called to the scene found him a while later. He was transported to the Academic Hospital in Paramaribo, where he remains.
The violent men that have been identified as Robert A. (36), Anthony L. (28) and Stephen B. (53) were arrested on Saturday, after consultation with the Prosecutor’s Office. Police had hinted on Friday already that the video that “a concerned citizen” had brought to their attention would be investigated. “It is obvious that the man is tied down and placed in such a situation that there was no danger of him escaping. There was no need for all that violence. This borders on anarchy,” police said.
In their press release on Thursday they reiterated this, stressing that they are the ones tasked with law and order in the country and appealing to society to support them in the execution thereof.
