Chad: More than 400 Fact rebels sentenced to life in prison

A group of captured rebels from Fact (Front pour le changement et la concorde au Tchad) are exposed with their weapons and vehicles confiscated at the Chadian army headquarters in N'Djamena on May 9, 2021. AFP - DJIMET WICHE

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

In Chad, the verdict fell on March 21, 2023 in the appeal trial of the 454 members of the Front pour l'alternance et la concorde au Tchad (Fact) arrested after the death of former president Idriss Déby. The majority of these rebels were sentenced to life imprisonment, inter alia, for acts of terrorism, enlistment of minors, endangering national security and endangering the life of the Head of State. Twenty-four accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. The collective of lawyers for the accused has already announced its intention to appeal to the Court of Cassation.

Advertising

Read more

It was behind closed doors, in Klessoum prison, N'Djamena prison, that the decision of the Court of Appeal was pronounced in the presence of the five court-appointed lawyers in this sprawling case.

Following the six weeks of hearings, the judges sentenced to life imprisonment the majority of the defendants who are detained but also by custom, one of the executives of the Fact, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, explains Francis Lokouldé, one of the lawyers of the accused: "The Court of Appeal has just rendered its verdict. Mahamat Mahdi and more than 400 other defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment.

"They have a morale of steel"

These penalties are accompanied by joint and several fines: 20 billion CFA francs in compensation for the State of Chad and one billion CFA francs to the beneficiaries of the late President Idriss Déby. After the verdict, Mr. Lokouldé visited his clients who claim to keep their spirits up and intend to appeal to the Court of Cassation: "They have a morale of steel because they already know that their fate has already been tied by politics. We are disappointed because the court did not follow us, but we have remedies. The law offers us the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court, so tomorrow we will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The convicted FACT members and their lawyers are also waiting for a gesture from the authorities. At the end of the national dialogue in October 2022, the president of the transition, Mahamat Idriss Déby, had raised the possibility of releasing all prisoners of war.

Damages not enough?

Civil parties in this case, the State of Chad and the family of former President Idriss Déby are represented by Abdoulaye Adam Bahar. The lawyer is not completely satisfied with the verdict of the Court of Appeal. Satisfied with the prison sentences proclaimed, he believes, on the other hand, that the human and material losses of the Chadian army were very significant during the fighting against the Fact and that the damages are therefore not sufficient: "We are satisfied in part because, for us, the reparation has not been substantial, with the damage suffered by the Chadian State during this incursion of the rebels: the state has lost men, equipment... So, for us, all our applications that we presented to the Special Criminal Court, all these requests were taken, but it is half. So we are partly satisfied. [...] On the aspect of damages, we are in the process of scrutinizing to see whether it is necessary to appeal to the Court of Cassation. And if necessary, we will do them very soon.

► Read also Chad: barely opened, the trial of the rebels of the Fact postponed to Wednesday

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

• Chad
• Justice
• Terrorism