Hundreds of supporters of Chad’s main opposition party, Les Transformateurs, gathered in N’Djamena on Wednesday to demand the release of their leader and former prime minister, Succès Masra, who has now spent nearly a year in detention. The rally, held at the party’s headquarters to mark its eighth anniversary, drew mostly young activists carrying placards and chanting for Masra’s freedom under heavy heat in the capital.
Speaking at the event, party secretary-general Ngagorngar Tog-Yeum described Masra as “an innocent man” deprived of his liberty for embodying the hopes of many Chadians. He also called for the release of several opposition figures linked to the GCAP movement who were arrested in recent days, arguing that they, like Masra, should not be in prison.
Masra, one of President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno’s fiercest critics, was sentenced in August 2025 to 20 years in prison after being convicted of hate speech, xenophobia and incitement over intercommunal violence in May that left dozens dead. His trial drew international scrutiny, with rights groups and opposition supporters portraying the case as politically motivated.
A French- and Cameroonian-trained economist, Masra briefly served as prime minister before challenging Deby in the 2024 presidential election. Official results gave Deby 61.3% of the vote and Masra 18.5%, but the opposition leader rejected the outcome and claimed victory himself. Wednesday’s protest underscored how central his imprisonment remains to Chad’s fractured political landscape.
