Wanted member of ruling party in Suriname to be extradited to France

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC -Suriname says its request to Brazil to extradite politician Joel 'Bordo' Martinus, who is suspected of having committed serious criminal offences in Suriname, has been denied, but he will be extradited to France.

Martinus, a member of the ruling party, was arrested in May based on a Red Notice issued by Interpol Suriname.

“Suriname wants the extradition of a Surinamese who is suspected of having committed serious criminal offences in Suriname, so that he can stand trial for them,” the Communications Unit of the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said then.

But in a statement, the OM said that it has received official communication that Martinus will be extradited to France.

“The negative decision on the Surinamese request was taken on December 9, 2024, after the Supreme Federal Court unanimously decided on December 6, 2024 to declare the extradition to France permissible,” the OM said in the statement.

Both Suriname and France had sought Martinus' extradition and after the Surinamese request was received, additional information was requested in October, which was sent in November via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation.

Martinus is currently still in custody in Brazil and will be extradited to France at a later date. On November 27 last year, public prosecutor Satyam Garib sought a 13-year jail term for Martinus as well as a fine of SRD 90,000 (One SRD=US$0.02 cents) for, among other things, the importation of hundreds of kilos of cocaine.

Martinus is considered the leader of a criminal organisation that is said to have imported almost 450 kilos of cocaine in a Cessna aircraft in December 2020.

The authorities in Suriname suspect Martinus of murder, manslaughter, complicity in murder/manslaughter, participation in a criminal organisation, violation of the Narcotic Drugs Act and money laundering.

Martinus came into the picture as one of the suspects after investigators stumbled upon a plane that was buried in an area near the border with French Guiana.

Prosecutor's also believed that a drug gang reportedly killed a man in connection with that case. The body was never found.

Two years ago, on November 21, 2022, Martinus fled to Brazil.  He was arrested on May 29, 2024, by the Brazilian Federal Police in São Paulo, Brazil, on the basis of an INTERPOL Red Notice.

France had sought his  extradition after a court in Le Mans had sentenced him in absentia in 2019 to eight years in prison for recruiting drug couriers between 2016 and 2018.

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