AKIPRESS.COM - Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores died Saturday in a private hospital in the capital after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, his party confirmed.

Flores, 56, had been in a coma since undergoing emergency surgery.

Flores, who led El Salvador from 1999 to 2004, was under house arrest on charges of embezzlement and illegal enrichment. He was accused of diverting more than $15 million, which had been donated by Taiwan to help the victims of earthquakes in 2001. A court says $10 million of that went to the party backing him and the remainder to him.