Chad pardons 259 people sentenced for 20 October protests

Locality of Koro Toro in Chad. © RFI

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In Chad, a new presidential pardon was signed on Monday 27 March. Two days after the one involving 380 Fact rebels, transitional President Mahamat Idriss Déby pardoned 259 of the 262 people convicted on December 2 for their alleged participation in the October 20 protests. While supporters of the government hailed his "magnanimity", others accused the authorities of diversion.

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They had been sentenced to two to three years in prison in a highly contested trial held behind closed doors in Koro Toro prison, in the middle of the desert, without lawyers or independent media. According to the presidential decree, they had been convicted of "acts of unauthorized assembly, destruction of property, arson, violence and assault, assault and battery, disturbing public order".

This after more than a month and a half of detention in this maximum security prison, 600 kilometers from the capital N'Djamena.

The convicts were arrested on what the opposition calls "Black Thursday" and the following days. These mobilizations against the extension of the duration of the transition, whose repression has left at least 128 dead, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Chad.

On the side of the supporters of the president of the transition, the spokesman of the MPS party, of the former president Idriss Déby, Jean-Bernard Padaré welcomes the "magnanimity" of the Chadian leader, who keeps according to the promises of appeasement formulated during the national dialogue.

MPS party spokesman for former President Idriss Déby Jean-Bernard Padaré hails "magnanimity" of presidential pardon

François Mazet

But for the organizers of the harshly repressed marches of October 20. Rather, it is a maneuver by the authorities to "muddy the waters" around the many issues still outstanding, "since no light has been shed on the exact number of victims," or people still missing.

Max Loalngar is the coordinator of the Wakit Tama platform, opposed to the Chadian transition. He believes that this pardon is meaningless because the prisoners have not been sentenced definitively, for lack of an appeal trial, and that their lawyers must continue the procedure to have them cleared:

For Max Loalngar, coordinator of the opposition platform Wakit Tama, this pardon is intended to "muddy the waters" around other issues and makes no sense because the prisoners have not been sentenced definitively.

François Mazet

Investigation still ongoing for "twenty

 »

However, the investigation is still ongoing for "twenty" people detained in N'Djamena, and a "hundred" others in Koro Toro prison, said Laguerre Ndjerandi, the president of the capital.

The authorities had first announced that about fifty people had died during this "Black Thursday", mainly young people shot dead in the capital by the police, before reassessing this toll to 73 dead. However, NGOs had denounced underestimated figures.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) had denounced in a report at the end of January "killings", "deaths in custody", "enforced disappearances" and "acts of torture" linked to the repression of demonstrations by the authorities.

Second grace in three days

This is the second presidential pardon granted in three days. On Saturday 25 March, a group of 380 rebels from the Front pour l'Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (Fact), sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the death of former President Idriss Déby Itno, benefited from the same decision by the Head of State.

They were also convicted of "acts of terrorism, mercenarism, and endangering the security of the national territory".

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Read on on the same topics:

• Chad
• Justice
• Mahamat Idriss Déby