PARAMARIBO – 19-year-old D.E. drowned after he had jumped in a well. But dozens of people who posted messages about the accident on social media claimed that the victim had been gunned down by the police.  

The police strongly denied the accusations but the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to confiscate the body and to send it to the Coroner’s Office for an autopsy. Reports indicate that the detectives from Internal Affairs are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the teenager.

The police officers from the  Brownsweg Police Department went to the concession of the Zijin Gold Mining Company after having received a call about a drowning. When the police officers arrived on the scene, they recovered the body. The Task Force of the mining company told the police that they had caught two prospectors who were trespassing but that the teenager had managed to escape by jumping off a hill. After he had jumped, he ran away but fell in a well where he drowned.

The police are urging witnesses to step forward in order to explain what had happened last Saturday night. The investigation is ongoing. …[+]