In Chad, the first trial of demonstrators arrested on October 20 was held on Tuesday November 15 in Mongo, in the province of Guéra, in the center-south of the country. The repression of these rallies hostile to the authorities in several cities had given rise to a bloodbath, with an official toll of 50 dead and 300 injured. Much more according to the opposition and other organizations. 11 people appeared during the hearing on Tuesday. They were released.
The 11 defendants were prosecuted for “unarmed assembly and rebellion”, but the offenses were not constituted, estimated the president of the court.
If five of them admitted to having gone out to demonstrate, the others claimed to have been apprehended by mistake by the police, who had dispersed the rally with tear gas.
Several dozen young people from Mongo took part in this march, there were injuries, but no deaths were to be deplored in the provincial capital of Guéra.
At the end of the hearing, the lawyers showed their satisfaction.
Me Asdé Abel, representative of the Human Rights Commission of the bar in Mongo, hopes that this decision will set a precedent for similar trials in other towns in the country.
It is unclear how many people are still imprisoned in Chad since the October 20 violence.
The UN Committee Against Torture estimated that nearly 1,400 people were arrested that day and the following ones.
The government has acknowledged that 621 people were interviewed at Koro Toro high security prison in the north of the country.
More than 400 cases considered to be flagrant offenses have so far been sent to the Ndjamena prosecutor’s office, where no date has yet been set for a trial.
►Read also Chad: first trial of protesters arrested during the events of October 20