Desi Bouterse, the fugitive former president of Suriname, passed away at age 79

The government of Suriname said Wednesday that Desi Bouterse, the country’s fugitive former president, has passed away at the age of 79. This comes nearly a year after he eluded police to escape going to jail after being found guilty of the 1982 murders of 15 political activists.

“The government has learned about the death of Mr. D. Bouterse, the former President of the Republic of Suriname, from the family and its own inquiries,” Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told Reuters.

Without specifying where or even whose nation the former leader passed away, the authorities announced that he had died on Tuesday. Supporters gathered to his house on Wednesday morning to pay their respects, but Surinamese officials searched it last week without finding him.

For decades, Bouterse ruled politics in the small South American nation, spearheading a coup in 1980 before stepping down in 2020.

He and six other people were found guilty in 2019 of their involvement in the 1982 killings of fifteen prominent government dissidents, including journalists, attorneys, union officials, soldiers, and university professors. Bouterse was sentenced to 20 years in jail for their crimes.

The soldiers who had been killed, according to Bouterse, were involved in a planned invasion of the former Dutch territory.

After years of court battles, Bouterse was finally ordered to go to prison in January, but he failed to appear on the scheduled day.

Journalists were informed by representatives of the former president’s political party that his family will issue a statement later on Wednesday.