Assault charges dropped against Surinam ex-rebel .
PARAMARIBO , Surinam 1996-08-30
Flamboyant former Surinamese guerrilla leader Ronny Brunswijk walked free on Friday after charges of attempted murder were dropped , police said .
Brunswijk had been in police custody for 10 days after Freddy Pinas , a Surinamese-born visitor from the Netherlands , accused Brunswijk of trying to kill him in a bar-room brawl in the mining town of Moengo 56 miles ( 90 km ) east of Paramaribo .
Brunswijk , 35 , denied the charge and reached an agreement with Pinas after replacing a golden necklace lost in the scuffle .
It was the second time Brunswijk had been charged with attempted murder in less than two years .
In 1994 he served two months for shooting a thief in the backside .
Brunswijk , who led a rebel group against the military regime of Desi Bouterse in the late 1980s , is now a successful businessman with mining and logging interests .