PARAMARIBO, Suriname, – Desi Bouterse, the former president of Suriname, passed away last week due to liver disease, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The OM confirmed that the autopsy report, provided by the pathologist, was received over the weekend. Bouterse, who served as president from 2010 to 2020, was a prominent and controversial figure in Suriname’s political history.
“The report shows that the probable date of death was Monday or Tuesday. The cause of death was determined to be: complication of liver failure in severe liver fibrosis, caused by chronic alcohol use,” according to the office of the attorney-general.
The local newspaper de Ware Tijd reported, based on its own investigation that, Bouterse, who had been on the run since he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail last December, died on Monday, December 23 at around 11.30 pm (local time).
People who went to collect the body from his hiding place a day after his passing arrived with the remains in Paramaribo early Wednesday morning.
The Public Prosecution Service said that the body will be handed over to the relatives and that the police investigation into the circumstances of how the body was transported from the as yet unknown hiding place to Bouterse’s home in Leonsberg will continue.
The family and the National Democratic Party (NDP) that Bouterse founded said they are hoping that the funeral will take place no later than January 4 next year.
Last weekend, Foreign Affairs Minister, Albert Ramdin, said that Bouterse will not receive a state funeral.
In addition, the leadership of the National Army and the Ministry of Defense have also indicated that although Bouterse was also commander of the army, it would be inappropriate to bury him with state or military honors because he was sentenced to a prison sentence by the Military Court for very serious criminal offenses.
Ramdin said because it will not be a state funeral, no foreign heads of state will be invited, adding that the government in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country has not yet received any requests from foreign heads of government who would like to attend the funeral.
On 25 February 1980, Bouterse, as sergeant and chairman of the newly established military union, led a coup and deposed the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Henck Arron. The military then established the National Military Council (NMR), appointed a new government and suspended the Constitution and parliament. The policy under Bouterse’s regime led to what would later be known as the December murders.
Bouterse was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Court of Justice in December 2023 on appeal for involvement in the murder of 15 people, including journalists, lawyers and human rights activists on December 8, 1982.
The court ruled that although no evidence was provided that Bouterse shot one or more of the victims himself, there was evidence that he gave the order to do so and was in control of the massacre from the beginning to the end.
Following his conviction Bouterse had been on the run ever since, along with his body guard, Iwan Dijksteel, who had also been sentenced to 15 years in jail.
