Chad's military rulers on Thursday announced a general amnesty ending prosecution and guilty verdicts over the deaths of hundreds of protesters in a 2022 anti-government rally, a minister told AFP.
The opposition and NGOs have previously denounced the amnesty as a move by the government to shield the police and military officers responsible for the killings from justice.
Chad's government-appointed parliament, the National Transitional Council, adopted the law with 92.4 percent of members voting in favor, said National Reconciliation Minister Abderaman Koulamallah.
Hundreds of demonstrators poured onto the streets of the semi-desert country on October 20, 2022, mainly youths protesting against a move by military president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno to cling to power.
About 50 people according to the government, or at least 300 according to the opposition and independent observers, were killed by police and military fire in the capital N'Djamena. After the demonstrations on what the opposition calls "Black Thursday," the regime said 621 youths, including 83 minors, were detained at an infamous desert jail at Koro Toro, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the capital.
Most were convicted and sentenced to prison in a mass trial, before being pardoned by Deby. Local and international NGOs as well as UN-mandated experts estimate that 1,000 to 2,000 were arrested. Dozens, if not hundreds, of them have since disappeared.
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