Chadian leader pardons 110 people over October protests
By abbas musa Kanempress
18th July 2023
About 110 people sentenced to jail terms in Chad following deadly protests against the regime last October, have been pardoned by leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.
Protests against the extension of Deby’s transitional rule broke out last October in the capital N’Djamena and several other towns.
Deby was proclaimed head of state by the army in April 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who got killed while on anti-rebel operations after ruling for 30 years.
According to a decree signed by Deby “Persons tried and sentenced for acts of unauthorised assembly, intentional assault and battery, arson, (and) destruction of property… following the events of October 20… benefit from a presidential pardon”.
Over 600 young men, including 80 minors, were arrested in N’Djamena on October 20 and following days, were sent to a prison in the desert town of Koro Toro more than 600 kilometres (370 miles) away.
After months of detention, the protesters were tried without legal representation.
More than half were sentenced to prison terms, while the others were given suspended sentences or released.
Local and international rights groups had claimed that dozens or even hundreds of people were tortured or executed on the way to Koro Toro, a claim denied by the authorities.
According to Public prosecutor at the N’Djamena Court of Appeal, Mahamat El-Hadj Abba Nana, 110 people pardoned had been tried and sentenced to between 18 months and five years in prison in Koro Toro, N’Djamena and Moundou.
A total of 436 people convicted of their involvement in last October’s protests are now pardoned by Chadian authorities in less than four months.
Similarly, at the end of March, about 259 demonstrators sentenced to prison terms received pardoned under a similar decree, followed by a second wave of 67 people in May.
