Chad‘s former Prime Minister and opposition leader, Succes Masra, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for disseminating racist and xenophobic messages that incited violence. The special criminal chamber in the national capital of N’Djamena convicted Masra of hate speech, xenophobia, and inciting a massacre, according to his lawyer, Francis Kadjilembaye.
Masra, the leader of Chad’s main opposition party, Les Transformateurs (Transformers), was arrested on May 16 following inter-communal violence in Logone Occidental province that killed 42 people on May 14. He denied the charges during the trial, and his lawyers argued that the prosecution failed to present concrete evidence that implicated Masra.
Masra’s lawyer, Kadjilembaye Francis, described the sentence as “ignominy and unworthy humiliation,” stating that his team planned to appeal the decision. “He has just been subjected to ignominy and unworthy humiliation,” Francis said, adding that Masra was convicted “on the basis of an empty dossier, on the basis of assumptions and in the absence of evidence”.
Before leaving the courtroom, Masra gave a message to his supporters: “Stand firm.” Activists with his party said they would put out a “special message” later in the day.
Masra, a staunch opponent of President Mahamat Idriss Deby, briefly served as prime minister in Deby’s interim government before running against him in the May 2024 election. The violence that led to Masra’s conviction occurred in May, with 35 people killed and six others injured in clashes between herders and farmers in Logone Occidental.
Masra’s Transformers party enjoys wide popularity among the predominantly Christian and animist populations of southern Chad, who feel marginalized by the largely Muslim-dominated authorities in N’Djamena. Masra left Chad after a bloody crackdown on his followers in 2022, only returning under an amnesty agreed in 2024.