INTER - AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
COMISSÃO INTERAMERICANA DE DIREITOS HUMANOS
COMMISSION INTERAMÉRICAINE DES DROITS DE L'HOMME
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. 2 0 0 0 6 USA
January 20, 2012
RE.:
Case 12.608
Liakat Ali Alibux
Suriname
Mr. Secretary,
On behalf of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, I am pleased to
address you in order to submit to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights the case 12.608 Liakat Ali Alibux against the Republic of Suriname (hereinafter
“the State” or “Suriname”), related to the investigation of and criminal proceedings
against Mr. Liakat Ali Alibux - former Minister of Finance and former Minister of Natural
Resources - who was sentenced on November 5, 2003 for the crime of forgery, in
accordance with the procedures provide for in the Indictment of Political Officials Act. In
its report on the merits, the Commission concluded that within the framework of that
process the State of Suriname is internationally responsible for violating the rights to a
fair trial, to judicial protection, to freedom from ex post facto laws, and to freedom of
movement and residence, as set forth in Articles 8, 25, 9, and 22 of the American
Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the Commission found that Mr. Alibux did not
have a remedy to appeal his conviction; that he did not have access to the courts to
challenge the constitutionality of the Act under which he was tried; that said Act was
applied ex post facto; and that the restriction on his ability to leave the country was
disproportionate.
The State deposited its instrument of accession to the American Convention, and
accepted the Court’s jurisdiction, on November 12, 1987.
The Commission appoints Commissioner Dinah Shelton and Executive Secretary
Santiago A. Canton as the delegates in this case; and Deputy Executive Secretary
Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, and Specialists Silvia Serrano Guzmán, Mario López-Garelli,
and Hilaire Sobers, as legal advisors.
Mr. Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Secretary
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Apartado 6906-1000
San José, Costa Rica
Enclosures