In Chad, more than 400 members of the rebel group Front pour l’Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (FACT) were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of former president Idriss Déby, who died on April 20, 2021 while in a war zone where clashes between army and rebels were going on. The leader and founder of the group, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, was also sentenced, but in absentia, given that he has been abroad for years.
Idriss Déby’s murder had occurred just one day after the results of the elections which had confirmed him as president with almost 80 percent of the votes: he had governed continuously since 1990, when he took power in an armed uprising, and what was to begin with it would have been his sixth term. His son Mahamat took his place at the behest of the army, ignoring the line of succession indicated by the Chadian constitution in these circumstances: since then he has been leading a transitional military council.
