The President of the Chadian transition, Mahamat Déby Itno, pardoned on Saturday 25 March 380 rebels of the FACT (Front for Alternance and Concord in Chad), sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday 21 March.
A total of 440 FACT members were arrested in April 2021 for the death of former Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno and sentenced to life imprisonment on 21 March. They had also been convicted of terrorism, mercenarism, and endangering national security.
But a decree signed by President Mahamat on Saturday 25 March pardoned only 380. This means that the fifty-five (55) other members, including the head of the Fact, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, are not affected by this presidential pardon. The Chadian government explains that the intention of the Head of State is to release the prisoners of war. And therefore those convicted in absentia are not taken into account. Moreover, the day after their conviction ( March 22), the Chadian justice system issued an international arrest warrant for the leader of the rebel group, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, who has been living in exile for years. And this, ” in order to have him answer to the facts of which he is accused “.
Furthermore, it should be noted that in March 2021, FACT, the most powerful rebel group at the time, launched an offensive from its rear bases in Libya towards the Chadian capital. A few days later (on 20 April 2021), the Chadian army announced that Marshal Déby had been killed by the rebels on his way to the front. The members of the Fact were then arrested for their involvement in the death of Marshal Déby. And the Chadian army appointed one of its sons, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, as President of the Republic for a transitional period, heading a military junta of 15 generals. But in October 2022, Mahamat Idriss Déby promised, at the end of the inclusive national dialogue that reappointed him for a period of 18 months at the head of the transition, to release all prisoners of war.
