Suriname fugitive ex-president Desi Bouterse dead at 79
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Former Surinamese president Desi Bouterse went on the run following his conviction over the 1982 murder of 15 political activists.
PHOTO: REUTERS
PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Suriname’s fugitive former president Desi Bouterse has died aged 79, the country’s government said on Dec 25, almost a year after he fled from the authorities to avoid jail following his conviction over the murders of 15 political activists in 1982.
“The government has been informed through the family and its own investigations of the passing of Mr D. Bouterse, ex-president of the Republic of Suriname,” Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told Reuters.
The former leader died on Dec 24, the government said, without confirming where, or even in which country. Last week, the Surinamese authorities raided his home – where supporters gathered to pay their respects on Dec 25 morning – but did not find him.
Surinamese President Chan Santokhi, who investigated the case as a police commissioner and later as justice minister, expressed condolences to Bouterse’s family and urged calm in a statement.
“In the spirit of the holiday season and year end, the President calls on all to remain dignified and calm, maintain peace and order and engage in prayer in the spirit of these special days,” the statement said.
Bouterse dominated politics in the tiny South American country for decades, leading a coup in 1980 and finally leaving office in 2020.
In 2019, he and six others were convicted of their role in the 1982 murders of 15 leading government critics – including lawyers, journalists, union leaders, soldiers and university professors – for which Bouterse received a 20-year prison sentence.
Bouterse had claimed the murdered men were connected to a planned invasion of the former Dutch colony.
Following years of legal back-and-forth, Bouterse was ordered to report to prison in January 2024 but did not show up on the appointed date.
Though Bouterse avoided prison by going on the run, Mr Reed Brody, a US war crimes prosecutor who monitored the case for the International Commission of Jurists, said justice had caught up with the convicted former president before he died.
“Thanks to the victims’ relatives and their supporters who never gave up, Bouterse will go down in history as a convicted murderer,” Mr Brody said.
The former president’s family will make a statement later on Dec 25, members of his political party told journalists. REUTERS
