Santokhi, a former policeman and justice minister, led the Dutch-speaking South American nation from 2020 to 2025, when his centrist government was defeated by the National Democratic Party of Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.

No cause of death was provided, but media reports said Santokhi had fallen ill at home and was brought to hospital, where he died.

“The government expresses its deepest sympathies to the bereaved, relatives, friends, fellow believers and all those affected by this loss,” it said in a statement.

Born in the Wanica district outside the capital Paramaribo, Santokhi studied in the Netherlands before returning to Suriname in 1982 and serving in Bouterse’s military regime, including as justice minister.

He was later at the forefront of an investigation into the execution of political opponents including lawyers, journalists, businessmen and military prisoners in 1982, two years after Bouterse seized power in a coup.

He was sentenced in 2023 to 20 years in prison over the killings, and went into hiding rather than report to prison. He died in December 2024 of liver failure at age 79.

Suriname, a former Dutch colony of 600,000 inhabitants, is one of the poorest countries in South America, and is hoping that an oil boom will bring prosperity.