The joint trial against the 401 protesters who were arrested during the political violence unleashed on October 20, which left at least 50 people dead and more than 300 injured, began on Tuesday.
The protesters face charges of unauthorized assembly, destruction of property, arson, violence and assault and disturbance of public order, the N’Djamena High Court said on Friday and reported by the Tchadinfos news portal.
The secretary of the Chadian Bar Association, Koulmen Nadjiro, said the day before that they would not attend the hearings, claiming that the proceedings are being held in a prison «without access to the population», making it «a double repression», according to the Alwhida news portal.
The protests, which according to international organizations claimed the lives of at least 50 people and injured 300, erupted after the junta decided to extend for another two years the mandate of Mahamat Idriss Déby, who initially planned to leave office to return power to a civilian government.
The leader of Chad’s junta has previously described those protests as an «organized insurrection» supported by «foreign powers» and accused the demonstrators of «cold-bloodedly killing civilians and assassinating members of the security forces» with a view to generating a «civil war».
