Succes Masra denies the charges against him, which relate to inter-communal clashes that left dozens dead in May.
Chad’s former prime minister and opposition leader Succes Masra has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for disseminating racist and xenophobic messages that incited violence.
Defence lawyer Kadjilembay Francis told reporters following Saturday’s ruling at a court in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, that Masra would appeal his sentence.
“He has just been subjected to ignominy and unworthy humiliation,” Francis said.
Masra, who was prime minister between January and May last year, is the head of the Transformers party and a sharp critic of Mahamat Deby, Chad’s current president.
He was accused alongside 67 co-defendants, mostly from the same Ngambaye ethnic group, of causing a clash between herders and farmers in May in Logone Occidental, in the southwest of the central African country. The fighting left 35 people dead and six others injured.
Masra has denied the charges against him, which include hate speech, xenophobia and having incited a massacre.
Before leaving the courtroom on Saturday, he gave a message to his supporters: “Stand firm.” Activists with his party said they would put out a “special message” later in the day.
The Ngambaye ethnic group enjoys wide popularity among the predominantly Christian and animist populations of the south, whose members feel marginalised by the largely Muslim-dominated authorities in N’Djamena.
Masra left Chad after a bloody crackdown on his followers in 2022, only returning under an amnesty agreed in 2024.
He faced off against Deby in that year’s presidential election, which Deby won with more than 61 percent support.
But Masra did not accept the results, claiming that the vote was rigged. He later agreed to serve as premier after signing a reconciliation deal with Deby.
Masra has strongly opposed the military rulers who came to power in Chad in April 2021, after the death of Deby’s father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had led the country for 30 years.
Deby took power in 2021 and legitimised his presidency with a parliamentary election earlier this year, which was opposed by Masra and his party.