The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounces in a report on Monday January 23 "
murders
", "
deaths in detention
", "
enforced disappearances
" and "
acts of torture
" linked to the repression of demonstrations by the authorities in october.
On October 20, 2022, around fifty people died, according to the government, mainly young people shot dead in the capital by the police, during an opposition demonstration against the continuation of power for two years. additional information from the transitional president, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno.
621 arrested in N'Djamena
“
Security forces fired live ammunition at protesters, killing and injuring dozens, beat people, chased them into homes and arrested them
,” the report reads. .
“
Due to the seriousness of the crimes committed by the Chadian security forces on October 20 and the days that followed, the international community should provide a strong response
,” recommends the human rights organization.
According to the government, a total of 621 people were arrested in N'Djamena and taken to Koro Toro, a high security prison in the middle of the desert 600 kilometers from the capital.
Witnesses told the NGO that several people had died on the way to the prison due to deprivation of “
food and water
”.
HRW adds that the minors arrested during the protests (83 according to the authorities) were held in "
the same cells and rooms as the adults
", at least for the first two weeks.
Enforced disappearances
The NGO also quotes witnesses according to which security forces "
driving unmarked cars
" visited "
communities known to support political opposition groups, including the Transformers and Wakit Tamma
", a party and a coalition of the Chadian opposition.
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The organization also points to several cases of "
enforced disappearances
": detainees whose "
location is still unknown and whose family members and lawyers have asked for information in vain
".
HRW also points out that civil society leaders and lawyers have indicated that they do not have “
confidence
” either in
the “independence
” or in
the “effectiveness
” of the Commission of Inquiry of the Economic Community of the States of the United States. Central Africa (ECCAS), set up after the protests and recommend assistance from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.