France: Chadian opponent Mahamat Nouri provisionally released due to the epidemic

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In France, the Chadian opponent Mahamat Nouri was released on bail for health reasons Friday, March 27. This former ally of President Hissène Habré and then Idriss Déby, who became the leader of an opposition party and an armed rebellion, was arrested and charged in June 2019 for "crimes against humanity" by the French justice. However, the latter considered that the risks linked to detention of the Covid-19 virus were too great.

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Friday mid-evening, former general Mahamat Nouri left the prison where he had been held for almost a year . He immediately found his wife at his home in the Paris region, says his son. He is " in good health with excellent morale ", adds the latter.

The 73-year-old leader of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development, the UFDD, benefited, like other French prisoners, from a health precautionary measure, explains his lawyer. For justice, his continued detention, given his age, exposed him to too great a risk in the event of contamination by the Covid-19 virus. However, he is subject to judicial review and the proceedings against him are proceeding normally.

This former minister and ambassador is being prosecuted in the framework of a preliminary investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office in 2017. He is accused of having carried out a campaign of forced recruitment of combatants, and in particular of minors, in Chad and Sudan , between 2005 and 2010. According to a United Nations report, thousands of child soldiers were recruited at that time by various rebel factions, including the UFDD.

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