Chad: Mass trial of anti-gov’t demonstrators starts, Lawyers stop work

Chadian prosecutors say the country is to try 401 people detained during and after deadly anti-government protests in October, during which, officially, around 50 people died when police opened fire on the demonstrators in the capital N’Djamena and several other cities

Prosecutors said the 401 detainees would be tried from 29 November to 4 December inside the Koro Toro high-security prison in the middle of the desert, more than 600 kilometers northeast of the capital.

Defense lawyers decried the decision to hold the trial so far away as a means to discourage them from fulfilling their duty. “We’re being asked to go and defend these young people on our own dime. It’s a way to prevent us from going to defend the innocent,” Koulmen Nadjiro, the secretary of the Chad Bar Association, said. Therefore, lawyers in Chad have vowed to stop work during the trial.

The 401 defendants were being tried on several charges including taking part in an “unauthorized gathering”, “destroying belongings”, “arson“, and “disturbing public order“, the N’Djamena prosecutor said. Opposition groups had encouraged protests on 20 October to mark the date when the ruling military had initially promised to cede power — a timeline General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has now extended by two years. The official number of 50 people killed during the protests has been disputed by opposition groups who say the actual toll was much higher, with unarmed civilians massacred.

The 38-year-old took power from his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled for 30 years before dying in an operation against rebels in April 2021. The public prosecutor earlier this month said Chadian authorities has arrested 621 people, including 83 minors, after the protests, all of whom were transferred to the Koro Toro prison.

Beyond the 401 to stand trial Tuesday, investigations were ongoing for 220 other people, including 83 minors, the prosecution said.