PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AFP) — Suriname’s Government announced Saturday that the small South American nation will not hold a state funeral for its ex-president Desi Bouterse, who last week died a fugitive from justice aged 79.

Current President Chan Santokhi “has decided, based on his powers and advice received, that there will be no state funeral… No period of national mourning”, Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told a press conference.

Bouterse was a former military man who twice mounted coups, in 1980 and again in 1990, to take charge as a dictator.

He eventually returned to power after being elected president in 2010 and governed for a decade.

He died last Tuesday in the unknown location where he had been holed up as a fugitive, with in-absentia convictions for cocaine trafficking and murder.

Bouterse’s body was dropped off at his residence in the capital Paramaribo. An autopsy was ordered, though police said there were “no signs of criminal activity”.

Bouterse had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2023 for the 1982 execution of political opponents, including lawyers, journalists, businessmen and military prisoners.

He remained a popular figure with the poor and working class in the former Dutch colony.

The foreign minister said that, out of respect for Bouterse’s status as an elected former president, flags would be flown at half-staff on Government buildings on the day of his funeral. The date has not yet been given.

BOUTERSE… died last week