FOL leader Godett
released from jail
Says six years of political persecution have ended ~
WILLEMSTAD--Imprisoned FOL leader Anthony Godett was released from Bon Futuro Prison in Curaçao. When he walked out of the prison gates at approximately 9:50am, family, friends and party members were waiting to greet him and they gave him a rousing welcome.
Godett had been sentenced to 15 months in jail, five of which had been suspended, for falsification of documents, corruption and money laundering. His incarceration began on July 17, 2006.
When he left prison he and several of his followers walked ahead of a motorcade to the Catholic church in Koraal Specht, where they stayed for a brief prayer. He walked farther towards Otrobanda and stopped at three other churches along the way for prayers. When he reached the Catholic cemetery in Otrobanda where his father who co-founded the FOL party is buried, Godett participated in a wreath-laying ceremony.
Godett said yesterday that an end had come to six years of political persecution.
“It has cost me a lot of money trying to prove my innocence. I had to approach several financial institutions only to pay my lawyers. I had to take a second mortgage on my house. I and my family for six years had to put up with insults and negative publicity that were only intended to do harm to my person,” he said.
He continued: “But, I stood firm and put my trust in the hands of the Son of our Good Lord and on July 17, 2006, I decided to turn myself in to serve my sentence. I endured a lot of hardship as it pertained to my health and even had to go to the hospital.”
On his last day in prison, Godett sent a letter to Justice Minister David Dick in which he requested pardon for Hendriks Abraham, Rob Salas and Cees Lugtendorff, who were also convicted in the same case with him. They still haven’t been ordered by the Prosecutor’s Office to sit out their sentences.
According to Godett, the intention was always that only he and prominent party member Nelson Monte would go to jail. “The judicial chain had to comply with orders from the Netherlands. Today I can say out loud: I’m finished with them,” Godett said.
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