N’DJAMENA: A Chadian court has sentenced former prime minister and opposition leader Succes Masra to 20 years in prison. The conviction relates to charges of hate speech, xenophobia, and inciting inter-communal violence that left 42 dead.
The court imposed an additional fine of one billion CFA francs (1.5 million euros) on Masra, a vocal critic of President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno. Most victims of the May 14 massacre were women and children in Mandakao, southwestern Chad.
State prosecutors had sought a 25-year sentence prior to the verdict. Defence lawyer Francis Kadjilembaye condemned the ruling as unjust. “Our client has just been the object of a humiliation,“ Kadjilembaye told AFP.
He argued the conviction lacked evidence, calling it a politically motivated weaponisation of the judiciary. Supporters of Masra’s Transformers Party protested the verdict on Saturday.
The party named former finance minister Bedoumra Kordje as interim leader following Masra’s sentencing. Masra was arrested on May 16, two days after the violence erupted.
Charges against him included inciting hatred, revolt, and complicity in murder. Nearly 70 others stood trial alongside him for their alleged roles in the killings.
Masra, an economist trained in France and Cameroon, previously fled Chad after a 2022 crackdown on opposition figures. He returned under a 2024 amnesty before briefly serving as prime minister.
His presidential bid last year saw him secure 18.5 percent of votes against Deby’s 61.3 percent, though Masra claimed victory. Ethnic tensions between Fulani herders and Ngambaye farmers reportedly triggered the May violence.
The International Crisis Group estimates such conflicts have caused over 1,000 deaths in Chad since 2021. – AFP