Jean Bedel Bokassa, dictator of the Central African Republic, changed the nation’s name to the Central African Empire. A year later, he was crowned Emperor in a lavish ceremony costing $20 million, a third of the national GDP. He was overthrown and exiled in 1979 and returned in 1986 for trial on charges of cannibalism, murder, and other charges. He was imprisoned until 1993, when he was released under an amnesty. Shortly before his death in 1996, he informed the world that he was the thirteenth apostle.
