Jean-Bedel Bokassa

Jean-Bédel Bokassa led a military coup against President David Dacko, his cousin. He suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly, and declared himself president, beginning a repressive regime.

Bokassa declared the Central African Republic a monarchy and crowned himself Emperor Bokassa I in a lavish ceremony costing millions of dollars. The event was modeled on Napoleon's coronation and widely criticized as extravagant.

French paratroopers, in Operation Barracuda, overthrew Bokassa while he was in Libya. David Dacko was reinstalled as president. Bokassa went into exile in France and later C

Bokassa ordered the arrest and killing of schoolchildren protesting compulsory school uniforms. Approximately 100 children were killed, leading to international condemnation and accelerating the end of his regime.

Bokassa returned to CAR voluntarily and was put on trial for crimes including murder, cannibalism, and embezzlement. He was convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment.