Lawyers in Chad representing former prime minister and opposition leader Succès Masra have issued a formal appeal to French President Emmanuel Macron, urging him to intervene in what they describe as a politically motivated legal case after Masra was arrested in May.
Masra, who leads the opposition Les Transformateurs party, has been held in pre-trial detention since May 2025 on charges of orchestrating the massacre of 42 herders in Mandakao, near the border with Cameroon, on May 14 – an allegation he categorically denies.
According to his legal team, which includes both Chadian and French lawyers, the judge's decision to detain Masra was made under pressure from the highest levels of the Chadian government.
In a letter addressed to the French president, they argue that the only piece of evidence submitted by investigators – and which the examining magistrate relied upon – is a 2023 audio recording in which Masra calls on southern populations to engage in self-defence amid a wave of deadly violence at the time.
“This case was fabricated from the start,” Vincent Bringarth of the Paris-based law firm Bourdon & Associés told RFI.
France launches embezzlement inquiry into Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Déby
International recourse
Bringarth, who has previously represented Masra in a case before the International Criminal Court following the October 2022 “Black Thursday” crackdown, criticised the French authorities’ silence.
“The prosecution is entirely based on a two-year-old audio recording that has no causal link whatsoever to the May 2025 violence,” he said. “We have firmly presented this argument before the Chadian courts, which clearly refuse to engage with reason. When domestic legal avenues are exhausted, we must take international recourse.”
The lawyers’ letter denounces what they call “serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” against Chad’s main opposition figure. Citing a complete loss of confidence in the Chadian judiciary, Bringarth called for decisive action from Paris.
“We are waiting for a strong response from France,” he said. “We expect President Macron to take on the role of mediator in a situation that is clearly at an impasse. We simply do not understand France’s silence in the face of what we view as a politically driven detention.”
Chad extends detention of RFI journalist, as lawyers denounce 'crackdown'
Silencing the opposition
Masra was appointed prime minister on 1 January, 2024 by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who seized power on his father's death in May 2021, continuing the Deby family's three-decade hold on power.
He ran for president in the May 2024 elections but lost out to Deby with 18.53 percent of the vote. His party contested the results. He resigned as prime minister and filed a legal challenge.
Masra’s arrest in May this year has deepened concerns over political repression in Chad, where intercommunal violence continues to destabilise parts of the country.
His supporters maintain that the charges are intended to sideline a key opposition voice ahead of future political transitions.
(With newswires)
