Chadian Government Releases 259 Pardoned Protesters

After over five months in prison, 259 Chadian protestors who were pardoned in late March were released Saturday, April 8, 2023, by the Chadian government. 

According to the coordinator of their attorneys' collective, the former convicts have returned home from the Moussoro jail, which is located around 300 kilometres east of Ndjamena.

It marks the conclusion of an experience for most young people who took part in the Black Thursday protests on October 20, 2022.

On that day, thousands of Chadians marched around the nation in response to the opposition's appeal to oppose the two-year prolongation of the "transition."

The move kept in power Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who took over the country when his father died.

The authorities admitted to arresting 601 individuals in Ndjamena, including 80 minors.

Following a mass trial with no counsel, a judge in a high-security desert jail sentenced 262 inmates to two to three years in prison.

Out of the 401 persons on trial, about 80 were sentenced to one to two years in jail with the possibility of parole, while 59 were acquitted.

Those convicted were found guilty of "unauthorized assembly, destruction of property, and arson," among other crimes.

The opposition and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also condemned disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture of Chadian citizens.