Suriname ex-dictator died of liver failure, autopsy shows

Bouterse's body was dropped off Tuesday at his residence in the capital Paramaribo by unidentified people, after he spent years hiding in an undisclosed location following a conviction in the killing of political opponents in 1982.

The autopsy results, released on Saturday by authorities in the small South American country, gave his cause of death as "a liver failure complication from serious liver fibrosis caused by chronic alcohol consumption."

Bouterse died either on December 23 or 24, the autopsy said.

Prosecutors said the body had been handed over to his family. No funeral date has yet been given.

A police investigation was continuing into how Bouterse managed to evade arrest, and how his corpse ended up being dropped off at his residence.

The government has ruled out a state funeral for Bouterse, who first grabbed power in a coup in 1980, and ruled for seven years before international pressure forced him to step down.

He returned after another coup in 1990, and was in power for a year.

In 2010 he was elected president of Suriname and governed for a decade.

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