Chad’s military junta pardons more than 60 protesters convicted of October 2022 protests

May 25. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The head of Chad’s military junta, Mahamat Idriss Déby, has signed a decree to pardon more than 60 protesters convicted for their participation in the anti-government demonstrations that took place in October 2022 in the African country.

Specifically, a total of 67 people have been pardoned after being convicted of “undermining the constitutional order, participating in an insurrectionary movement, meeting in an unauthorized manner” and other charges related to murder, assault, destruction of property, violence or arson. premeditated

Although the decree, which “is part of the efforts to promote national reconciliation” in the country, was signed the day before by the head of the military junta, the announcement was made this Thursday, as reported by the portal from Alwihda news.

Another presidential decree signed last March pardoned 259 protesters just three days after Mahamat Idriss Déby pardoned 380 members of the rebel group Front for Alternation and Harmony in Chad (FACT), sentenced days earlier for the death in 2021 from his father, Idriss Déby.

Chadian junta leader Mahamat Idriss Déby has previously described the October protests as an “organized insurrection” supported by “foreign powers” and went so far as to accuse protesters of “cold-blooded killing of civilians and assassinate members of the security forces”.

The protests broke out after the junta decided to extend the term of Déby by another two years, who had initially planned to step down to return power to civilian rule. He was appointed president by the Army in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, who had led the country since 1990.