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The Chadian government announced Thursday that it had thwarted a “destabilization attempt” by an army officer and a prominent human rights activist.
A group of 11 police officers, led by Chadian Human Rights Organization president Balladin Verdey Targuio, were behind the attempt, according to a government statement.
The security forces arrested those responsible some time after December 8, the statement added.
Communications minister and government spokesperson Aziz Mahmat Saleh said a formal investigation into “constitutional violations, criminal gangs, illegal possession of firearms and collusion” had been launched.
The investigating magistrate leading the case charged them and ordered their detention, he added.
“The investigation is progressing well and the government will do everything possible to clarify this incident and identify responsibility.” Sale said.
Targuio was sentenced in February 2021 to three years in prison for undermining constitutional order for writing that Chad’s then-leader, General Idriss Deby Itno, was seriously ill.
Debbie, who died in April 2022, was replaced by her son, General Mahamat Idriss Debbie Itono.
The illegal demonstration on October 20 was to mark the date the junta first promised to hand over power, a deadline that has now been extended for two years.
About 50 people, including 10 members of the security forces, were killed, according to official figures.
Opposition groups, however, claim the actual number is much higher and that unarmed civilians were massacred.
Debbie accused the demonstrators of “mutiny” and plotting a coup.
Authorities said 601 people, including 83 minors, had been arrested in the N’Djamena area alone and taken to Korotoro, a high-security prison in the desert 600 kilometers (375 miles) from the capital.
A total of 401 people were tried in prison courts, a procedure boycotted by lawyers in protest.
After a four-day trial, 262 people were sentenced to two to three years in prison, 80 were given suspended sentences, and 59 were acquitted, prosecutors said.
Debbie, 38, came to power after her father, Idris Debbie Itono, who ruled the arid Sahel province for 30 years, died in April 2021 during an operation against rebels.
***AFP***
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