N’DJAMENA, Chad
A court in a high-security desert prison in Chad has sentenced 262 people arrested during a bloody anti-regime protest in October to two to three years in prison after a mass trial behind closed doors with no lawyers and no independent media.
Some 80 others, out of 401
people on trial - mostly young demonstrators - were given one to two years'
suspended prison sentences, and 59 were acquitted, N'Djamena's public
prosecutor, Moussa Wade Djibrine, told reporters on Monday.
The trial lasted four days and
ended on Friday, but as only state television was allowed to attend, in the
absence of any other media, the prosecutor did not make the judgment public
until three days later, on his return to the capital on Monday.
On 20 October 2022, around
fifty people - mostly young demonstrators shot dead - died, mainly in
N'Djamena, when the police opened fire on the slightest attempt at a rally.
They were responding to the call of the opposition against the extension of General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno's rule for two years. He had been proclaimed head of state by the military on 20 April 2021 following the death of his father, President Idriss Déby Itno, who was killed at the front by rebels after ruling Chad with an iron fist for 30 years.
The government had
acknowledged the arrest of 601 people in N'Djamena alone - including 83 minors
- and their transfer to the high-security prison of Koro Toro. The transitional
president Mahamat Déby had accused them of having wanted to lead an
"insurrection" and an attempted "coup d'état".
Those convicted on Friday were
found guilty of "unauthorised assembly, destruction of property, arson,
violence and assault and disturbance of public order", according to the
prosecutor.
The mass trial took place in
the prison of Koro Toro, 600 km northeast of the capital, an
"illegal" procedure according to the lawyers who decided not to
attend.
Amnesty International had
denounced on Friday "a trial behind closed doors which raises serious
concerns about respect for the right to a fair trial (...) the right to prepare
one's defence (...) the right to a public trial (...) and the right to
information" of the public, "rights enshrined in the African Charter
on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Chad is a party".
The Bar Association went on
strike throughout the country before the opening and for the duration of the
trial, denouncing the "arbitrariness and injustice" of a "parody
of a trial". He announced on Monday a resumption of the pleadings from
Tuesday and their intention to appeal.
Of the 600 people arrested
during and after the demonstration in N'Djamena, the cases of more than 200 are
still under investigation by investigating judges, including 80 minors
repatriated from Koro Toro to N'Djamena, the prosecutor said Monday.
After the bloody
demonstrations, the opposition - whose main leaders are now in hiding or in
exile -, local and international NGOs, as well as part of the international
community, led by the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU), strongly
condemned the excessive use of violence "against civilians".
On Monday, the government
announced the lifting of the state of emergency declared in N'Djamena and some
other cities on the evening of 20 October.
On 20 April 2021, Mahamat
Déby, a young 37-year-old general, was proclaimed President of the Republic at
the head of a junta of 15 generals and had promised to hand over power to
civilians through elections after a "transition" of 18 months.
But he extended his presidency
on the recommendation of a "National Reconciliation Dialogue"
boycotted by the vast majority of the political opposition and several of the
most important armed rebel groups. - AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment