The trial of over 400 people who joined last month's anti-government protests is to open in a desert prison in Chad on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the military authorities are insisting that a Chadian oversee an international inquiry into the deaths of civilians on Thursday 20 October.
On 20 October 2022, demonstrations were held in N’Djamena and elsewhere in the country to protest against the extension of the transition period for a further two years and to demand the transfer of power to civilians. Hundreds of people answered the call of several opposition parties and civil society organisations.
Local NGOs and rights groups claim that nearly 200 civilians were killed by security forces firing live ammunition. The World Organisation against Torture accused the Chadian authorities of summary executions and torture.
For the last two weeks, western ambassadors in Chad have been lobbying the transitional government so that an international commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the protests may be "truly independent".
They told RFI this process would be necessary to assure the "credibility" of an investigation into "a repression of a magnitude never witnessed in Chad".
In a televised speech at the time, transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said a "meticulously prepared insurrection" had taken place with the "support of foreign powers," which he did not name.
Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo announced a provisional toll of 50 dead and 300 injured. He announced that a Judicial Commission would be set up to determine responsibility.
The commission is to be set up under the auspices of the Economic Community of Central African States, the African Union and the United Nations.
Control of the inquiry
Sources close to the government told RFI’s Esdras Ndikumana that "the presidency wants a mixed commission headed by a Chadian". They told him that the presidency would like "to oversee and control" this commission of inquiry.
It is a very sensitive issue for the transitional government because it involves the role played by the elite presidential guards – the DGSEE, into the alleged use of excessive force against demonstrators.
According to the Chadian sources, President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno wants to be in control.
Jean-Bernard Padaré, the spokesperson of the Mouvement Patriotique du Salut (MPS), political party of late President Deby (father of the current president), says the demands of the presidency are understandable.
"It is normal that the commission of inquiry is to be headed by a Chadian because Chad is not under the control of anyone or any State," he said to RFI.
"It is the president himself who decided to set up this commission, no one forced him to do so".
Government sources who spoke to RFI said that announcing an inquiry commission was paying lip service to the international community whilst waiting for the "emotion" caused by the "black Thursday" to slowly fade away.
Trial of protesters in the desert
Meanwhile, the trial of 401 protesters detained in Koro Toro maximum security desert prison starts on Tuesday 29 November. It will take place without the defence lawyers of the jailed protesters.
Hundreds of Chadian opposition supporters are being held at Koro Toro following the 20 October protests. The Chadian Justice minister said that 621 detainees have been charged at the prison, 83 of them are minors.
Several magistrates left N’djamena for Koro Toro prison on Sunday 27 October for the trial. The authorities said that the protesters had to be moved because the N'Djamena prisons are overcrowded.
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Koulmem Nadjiro, the secretary of Chad’s bar council, told RFI’s Madjiasra Nako that justice has not been served.
"We are faced with an illegal situation,” she said. “The proper legal procedure has not been respected".
"These people detained in Koro Toro should be tried under the competent court, which is that of N'Djamena".
She added that security concerns makes it very difficult for lawyers to travel all the way up to Koro Toro, some 600 kilometres away to meet their clients.
"We are waiting for these people to be brought to N'Djamena so that they may get the legal support they need for their defence," said Nadjiro.
