Former Prime Minister Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison Over Incitement Charges

Yaounde (The Uttam Hindu) : Chad's former Prime Minister Success Massara has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in the capital N'Djamena. According to news agency Xinhua, the Chadian court found Massara guilty of inciting its citizens. Massara's lawyers called the decision "outrageous" and said they would appeal against it.

After the verdict, Masara's lawyer Kadjilembe Francis told reporters: "He has just been subjected to an extremely humiliating verdict." He said he would appeal the sentence. Masara was arrested in May following a government investigation into allegations that he incited people to violence. The investigation found that his incitement led to violent clashes in the village of Mandakao in the southwestern province of Logone Occidental that left 42 people dead. Masara, the president of the opposition political party The Transformers, went into exile in 2022 but later returned and was appointed prime minister by President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

After serving as prime minister for five months in 2024, Massara resigned to pave the way for the formation of a new government. Massara, who was prime minister from January to May last year, is the leader of Les Transformateurs party and has been a staunch critic of Chad's current President Mahamat Deby. Deby came to power in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who was killed fighting rebels in the northern part of the country. Idriss Deby had ruled Chad for 30 years. Earlier this year, Mahamat Deby legitimized his presidency through an election that Massara and his party opposed.