A dozen opponents of Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, in power for 30 years, were imprisoned on Monday and will be tried for having defied a ban on demonstrations on the day of the announcement of the head of state's candidacy for a sixth mandate, announced a minister.
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On Saturday, while the party of Idriss Déby, who at 68 years of age has led his country with an iron fist since a coup d'état in 1990, invested him as a presidential candidate on April 11, opponents demonstrated at N 'Djamena to demand "alternation in power" and more
"social justice".
But rallies, at the call of opposition parties who intended to demonstrate
"peacefully",
had been banned and the police repressed and dispersed manu militari at the start of the parade on Saturday.
Several people had been arrested, including a figure of civil society, Mahamat Nour Ahmed Ibedou, secretary general of the Chadian Convention for the Defense of Human Rights (CTDDH), and fierce critic of the regime.
"A dozen of them were put under arrest warrant for disturbing public order because they violated a decree banning these demonstrations,"
Justice Minister Djimet Arabi told AFP on Monday evening. .
They are 14, including Ahmed Ibedou,
"prosecuted for disturbing public order, assault and battery and destruction of property"
and imprisoned in the N'Djamena remand center, assured the spokesperson for the collective of lawyers who defend them, Alain Kagonbe.
Djimet Arabi affirmed that the defendants would be tried
"in flagrante delicto court"
within the week.
In addition, Succès Masra, leader of the Les Transformateurs party and one of the most vocal opponents of Idriss Déby's regime, as well as 10 of his supporters, took refuge on Saturday in the forecourt of the United States Embassy to escape from the police.
Five of them, including Succès Masra, were still, Monday evening,
"in the security perimeter"
of the American representation but they did not
"formally request political asylum"
, told AFP a embassy representative.