Members of the Media in Suriname to Boycott Vice President Over Assault on Journalist
PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Journalists here plan to stage a protest outside Parliament building on Thursday as they intensify pressure on Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk whose security guards assaulted a media worker as he was carrying out his duties earlier this week.
Vice President Ronnie BrunswijkThey have also agreed to boycott Brunswijk by not reporting on anything from him or his Cabinet.
The development comes two days after journalist Jason Pinas had his phone forcibly taken by Brunswijk’s security personnel as he tried to take photos of the Vice President outside the Parliament building in the capital. The guards took the action when Pinas went up to Brunswijk’s car to take the photo.
Pinas was taken to the Academic Hospital in Paramaribo for medical treatment after the incident. He told local media hours after the incident that he still had pain in his neck, head and arm.
“Even if I hadn’t been allowed to take a photo, it would still be a matter of decency for the vice president to behave properly,” said the reporter, who also clashed with Brunswijk earlier this year when the Vice President did not want to answer a question from him during a press conference.
Brunswijk subsequently said he was not responsible for the actions of his security officers, but also contended that journalists should know how to behave.
“What happened has happened. We have to be honest. Journalists also have their code of ethics,” he said in Parliament, adding reporters should not get too close, because then security personnel no longer know who the journalist is.
The Association of Surinamese Journalists (ASJ) said it was “shocked, outraged, but above all deeply disappointed and horrified” at the incident, adding that “democracy has been trampled underfoot by the dastardly beating of journalist Jason Pinas at the House of Democracy, The National Assembly, by the authorities”.
It said freedom of the press is an important pillar of any democratic constitutional state and is internationally regulated and recognized as such.
“The Surinamese society has already experienced violation of this freedom, resulting in the death of five journalists, which was recently condemned by the legal system,” the media body said, noting that Brunswijk and/or his bodyguards have used violence or threatened journalists. “However, the brutal and dastardly manner in which Pinas has dealt with at the building of DNA goes far beyond the limits of what is permissible.”
The association said it had also taken note of the statement made by the Vice President in the Parliament in response to the incident.
“The ASJ speaks of a very worrying situation, in which both the government and parliament have put democracy under serious pressure. After meeting with its members, the ASJ will inform the international community and multilateral organizations represented in Suriname, about the dastardly acts of violence from the Surinamese authorities against the press and how the National Assembly has dealt with this matter. We have reached a very low point of press freedom,” it added.
The Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) has since expressed solidarity with Pinas and called on Brunswijk to publicly apologize to him, adding that “if he fails to do so, then we call on President Chandrikapersad Santokhi to sanction Mr. Brunswijk”.
“The ACM also calls for the return of Mr. Jason Pinas’s cellular phone. As a journalist, he has an inalienable right to confidentiality of sources and this must not be seen to be violated in any form,” the regional group said.
It said the use of the State’s security apparatus against a journalist in this instance is woefully inappropriate and must be condemned.
“This type of action goes back to a dark militaristic era in Suriname that must not be allowed to raise its ugly head again as this can be rightfully construed as an elected dictatorship,” the ACM said.
