Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby has granted a presidential pardon to former Prime Minister and opposition leader Succès Masra, who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence. The pardon was announced by presidential decree on Friday, August 14. Eight other opposition party leaders were also included in the measure. According to the decree published on the Chadian presidency’s Facebook page, the presidential pardon provides for a full remission of the prison sentences imposed on those convicted.
Succès Masra released after 20-year sentence
Masra had been serving his sentence for more than a year after being convicted of “disseminating hate and xenophobic messages” and “complicity in murder.” The eight other political figures, all members of the opposition platform known as the Group of Consultation of Political Actors (GCAP), had been sentenced in May to eight years in prison for allegedly plotting an insurrection.
The presidential pardon means that all nine opposition figures are now released from their custodial sentences. The decision was welcomed by Masra’s political camp. Dr Ndolembai Sadé Njesada, vice-president of Masra’s Les Transformateurs party, thanked President Déby for what he described as a decision in favour of national unity. “We hope that we can finally sit around a table to advance peace,” he said.
From exile in Cameroon to Prime Minister
A 42-year-old economist and prominent opposition figure, Succès Masra was forced into exile in Cameroon in late 2022 following a protest that was violently suppressed by security forces.
A large number of people were killed during the demonstrations, although the authorities never released an official death toll.
Masra returned to Chad about a year later under an agreement reached between his movement and the Chadian government in Kinshasa.
He was subsequently appointed Prime Minister, just months before the May 2024 presidential election.
Masra ran against Mahamat Idriss Déby in the election and finished second with nearly 20% of the vote.
His subsequent imprisonment marked a major deterioration in relations between the government and one of Chad’s most prominent opposition figures. The presidential pardon could now open the door to renewed political dialogue as the authorities seek to promote national unity.
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