Succès Masra, former Prime Minister of Chad and head of the opposition Transformers party, was sentenced on Saturday, August 9, to 20 years in prison and fined one billion CFA francs.
The ruling by the N’Djamena Criminal Court follows a trial that began earlier this month, amid a highly charged political atmosphere.
Masra faced serious charges including disseminating xenophobic and racist messages, criminal conspiracy, incitement to revolt, complicity in murder, and involvement in the deadly violence that claimed 76 lives in Mandakao, a southern region of Chad. The public prosecutor had initially demanded a 25-year sentence along with the freezing of his assets.
An economist by training with a doctorate from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Masra had worked for the African Development Bank before his political career.
After a period of exile marked by tensions with the ruling regime, he returned to Chad in 2024 under the Kinshasa Accords. He was appointed transitional Prime Minister but resigned just before the May 2024 presidential election, which Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno won.
Following his resignation, Masra became an outspoken critic of the government, condemning what he called “biased electoralism” and urging a boycott of the December 2024 legislative elections. His arrest on May 16, 2025, accused him of inciting hatred and armed conflict, partly based on a 2023 audio recording. Masra rejected the allegations in court, describing the trial as a “political plot” and highlighting the government’s failure to honor agreements signed in 2023.
The sentencing of Succès Masra further exposes the deep divisions within Chad’s fragile political landscape, underscoring ongoing tensions between the ruling establishment and opposition forces in a country still grappling with instability after years of military rule.
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