Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Revolutions, military coups or mass protests have caused many supposedly invincible leaders to flee their countries or go into hiding to avoid imprisonment, execution or political reprisals by successive governments.
The most recent international leader to join the list is Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina, who was ousted in a military coup this week. His downfall followed weeks of Gen Z-led demonstrations over hardships, lack of opportunities and electricity shortages in the Indian Ocean island nation.
Here’s a look at other leaders who have fallen victim to a similar fate.
bashar asad
In 2024, former Syrian leader bashar asad ran towards Russia As rebels advance towards the capital, Damascus, to seize power after years of civil war.
As opposition forces spread across the country, Assad arrived in Moscow, ending his family’s 51-year rule over the country.
For years, Assad received support from allies Russia and Iran, which backed him in his 13-year civil war against opposition forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin granted protection to him, his family and some associates and has refused to extradite them to Syria.
Sheikh Hasina
In August 2024, the longest serving Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh HasinaHe was forced to resign and flee the country after a wave of protests succeeded in toppling his government.
The UN human rights office estimates that at least 1,400 people were killed when security forces cracked down on weeks of student-led protests.
Hasina, who is still in exile in India, first became prime minister in 1996 and then returned in 2008 and held the post until her resignation.
His father Sheikh Mujib Rahman was the first leader of independent Bangladesh. He was assassinated in a military coup in 1975.
After months of protests over the devastating economic crisis, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives in July 2022, returning nearly two months later.
The economic collapse of the South Asian island nation left it short of cash to pay for food and fuel imports, its debt defaulting and people lining up for days for cooking gas and petrol.
Sri Lankans blamed Rajapaksa, who was part of a powerful family political dynasty, for the disaster.
He was forced to resign along with his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was Prime Minister, and two other brothers and a nephew, who were in his cabinet.
viktor yanukovych
In February 2014, following a series of deadly protests, Ukrainian President viktor yanukovych Fled the capital of Kiev and eventually reemerged in Russia.
The protests in Kiev were sparked by Yanukovych’s decision to cancel the deal with the European Union in November and instead seek a $15 billion bailout loan from Russia. Yanukovych and opposition leaders agreed to reach a deal aimed at ending Ukraine’s political crisis but he secretly fled the capital that evening.
Ukrainian lawmakers voted to impeach him and call early presidential elections, despite an arrest warrant being issued against him after protests left dozens of civilians dead.
Putin and Yanukovych later said that Russian forces helped Yanukovych cross into Russia via Crimea.
moammar gaddafi
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi lost his four-decade grip on power during the 2011 Libyan Civil War, part of the broader Arab Spring uprisings.
Rebel forces overthrew Gaddafi after seizing the capital Tripoli, forcing him to flee with a handful of loyalists. He remained in hiding for weeks amid a bloody siege by rebel forces in his hometown of Sirte, one of the last bastions of loyalist resistance.
Gaddafi tried to flee the besieged city with a convoy of fighters loyal to him on October 20, 2011, but they dispersed after NATO airstrikes. Opposition forces then found Gaddafi in a large drainage pipe and captured him.
After his death, his body was put on public display for a few days before being buried in a secluded desert location.
mark ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana served as the sixth President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009, until he was overthrown by a military coup led by Rajoelina, who was then the former mayor of the capital Antananarivo.
Ravalomanana transferred his power to a military council and fled to South Africa.
The international community considered it a coup and withdrew all but humanitarian aid.
Ravalomanana was later convicted in absentia of conspiracy to commit murder in a case related to the violence that followed his coup. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after a trial described by Amnesty International as “unfair”.
After more than five years in exile, he returned to Madagascar and was arrested at his home. The following year, his sentence was lifted and he was released from house arrest.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide twice fled his country during military coups, the first in 1991, six months after becoming the Caribbean island’s first democratically elected leader.
His reforms angered the military elite and when his government fell he fled to Venezuela. He was reinstated with the help of the United States to complete his term from 1994 to 1996.
Aristide won re-election in 2000 but by 2004 the country was in turmoil and he was forced to resign, his administration facing a popular revolt.
Aristide fled a second time, leaving Haiti on a US-chartered plane to the Central African Republic and later settling in South Africa. He returned to Haiti in 2011.