Chad: the six opposition leaders of Wakit Tama sentenced to one year suspended prison sentence
Courthouse in Ndjamena, Chad (illustration photo).
AFP/Pascal Guyot
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Chad, the trial of the six leaders of Wakit Tama was held on Monday 6 June.
They had been arrested just after the violence and other degradations against in particular French interests, on the sidelines of the authorized demonstration of Wakit Tama, on May 14, in Ndjamena.
Chadian justice sentenced them to a one-year suspended prison sentence.
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All of Chad had their eyes fixed on the Moussoro remand center, some 300 km from Ndjamena where the trial took place, under close surveillance.
While the prosecutor had requested a heavy sentence, the Court has just sentenced them to a 12-month suspended sentence, a fine of 50,000 FCFA and 10 million in damages to be paid jointly, a verdict which appears as a desire to calm things down. Thus, the Court was "
rather lenient
" if we stick to the charges against the six leaders of Wakit Tama, explains a Chadian magistrate.
Unauthorized gatherings, arson, intentional bodily harm or even disturbing public order... The judges found them "
guilty of the charges against them
", according to the established formula, before sentencing them to 12 months in prison suspended sentence, 15,000 euros in damages and a fine of 75 euros.
The six men faced a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to court sources.
An “expedited” trial
In the opinion of the witnesses present at the Moussoro remand center, the trial was
“
expedited
”.
The mobile hearing for flagrante delicto at the High Court of Ndjamena began around 9:00 a.m. local time and ended at 10:10 a.m.
In the dock were six men among the main leaders of the Wakit Tama movement, a coalition of political parties and civil society associations fiercely opposed to the Transitional Military Council, the junta in power in Chad for a little over a year.
They are two lawyers, including Me Max Loangar, figurehead of the movement, two union leaders, the general secretary of the UST, the main trade union center in the country, and that of the Syndicate of Traders Suppliers to the State, without forget a party leader and two civil society activists.
"
We are very far from the two-year prison sentence required by the prosecutor
", notes the magistrate who speaks of a "
rather political
" verdict, while the lawyers boycotted the hearing this morning and that the defendants have remained silent, refusing to participate in what they call "
a masquerade
".
“
A first gesture of appeasement
”
Earlier, Saleh Kebzabo, former leader of the Chadian opposition and current vice-president of the National Dialogue Organizing Committee, had called on "
the Chadian state
" not to be "
intransigent
".
He said to himself, this Monday evening, more or less satisfied by this verdict which is, according to him, "
a first gesture of appeasement
", before adding: "
I hope that we will go even further on appeal .
»
On the side of Wakit Tama, it's relief, even if we assure that we will not let go.
The president of the bar association, he already assures that they will appeal.
In the meantime, the six leaders of Wakit Tama should be released from the Moussoro remand center by tomorrow, Tuesday, at the latest.
►Also read: Chad: the trial of the leaders of Wakit Tama opens in Moussoro
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