Jean-Bédel Bokassa (February 22, 1921 – 3 November 1996, also known as Bokassa I of Central Africa and Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa), a military officer, is the head of state of the Central African Republic and its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until 20 September 1979.

Of this period, he serves almost eleven years (1 January 1966 – 4 December 1976) as president (president for life in 1972–1976), and for almost three years he reigned as self-proclaimed emperor (4 December 1976 – 20 September 1979).

Following his overthrow, the Central African Republic is restored.

Bokassa's imperial title does not achieve international diplomatic recognition.

Born in French Equatorial Africa, the son of a village chief, Jean-Bédel Bokassa is orphaned at age 12.

Educated in mission schools, he joins the French colonial army in 1939 as a private.

He distinguishes himself in the war in Indochina, winning medals and rising to the rank of captain.

When French Equatorial Africa gains its independence as the Central African Republic in 1960, the new president David Dacko invites Bokassa to head the armed forces.

In 1966, Bokassa uses his position to oust Dacko and declares himself president.

He then begins a reign of terror, taking all important government posts for himself.

He personally supervises judicial beatings and introduces a rule that thieves would have an ear cut off for the first two offenses and a hand for the third.

In 1977, in emulation of his hero Napoleon, he crowns himself emperor of the Central African Empire in a ceremony costing $20 million, practically bankrupting the country.

His diamond-encrusted crown alone costs $5 million.

In 1979, he has hundreds of schoolchildren arrested for refusing to wear uniforms made in a factory he owns, and is reported to have personally supervised the massacre of 100 of the schoolchildren by his Imperial Guard.

On September 20, 1979, French paratroopers deposes him and re-install Dacko as president.

Bokassa goes into exile in France where he has chateaux and other property bought with the money he has embezzled.

After his overthrow in 1979, Central Africa reverts to its former name and status as the Central African Republic.

In his absence, he is tried and sentenced to death.

He returns to the Central African Republic in 1986 and is put on trial for treason and murder.

In 1987, he is cleared of charges of cannibalism, but found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes.

The death sentence is later commuted to life in solitary confinement, but just six years later, in 1993, he is freed.

He lives a private life in his former capital, Bangui, and dies in November 1996.