Chadian justice not hampered by legal constraints

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the way President Idriss Déby’s family and the president’s office are manipulating the judicial system in order to censor the media. Two publications have been the targets of arbitrary judicial measures initiated by them in recent weeks. An N’djamena judge ordered the close of the weekly Abba Garde on 10 July at the request of the High Council for Communication, which in turned acted in response to a complaint by the president’s office. A separate court order issued the same day demanded the seizure of all copies of issue No. 109 of the newspaper. Both orders appear to have been issued in response to an article headlined “Idriss Déby, the Hitler of modern times” in issue No. 108, which was published in late June. “Regardless of what the journalist wrote, the decision to close the newspaper contravenes Chad’s 2010 press law, article 44 of which says that such a decision can only be taken by a court after a hearing in which the affected party is able to defend itself,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Unfortunately, this hearing has been postponed three times. Furthermore, the seizure of issue No. 109 is clearly an arbitrary measure because it was the preceding issue that had the offending article. We call on Chad’s courts to respect the country’s laws and to rescind Abba Garde’s closure at once.” Abba Garde publisher Moussaye Avenir de la Tchiré said harassment of the newspaper began on 5 July, when members of the National Security Agency tried to arrest him while he was in the southeastern town of Bongor, located on the border with Cameroon. De la Tchiré then crossed the border and has remained abroad ever since. Very critical of the government, Abba Garde is widely read in N’Djamena. This is not De la Tchiré’s first run-in with the judicial authorities. In 2013, he was detained for four months and was given a two-year suspended jail sentence. Haut Parleur publisher Stéphane Mbaïrabé Ouaye is meanwhile being sued by one of the president’s brothers, Salaye Déby, over an article accusing them of “supporting the dictatorship.” On 22 July, Ouaye received a summons to appear at an N’Djamena court hearing “with the purpose of finding him guilty of the facts of which he is accused and sentencing him to pay Salaye Déby the sum that will be set by the court.” The wording of the summons is extraordinary in that it clearly shows that Ouaye has been convicted in advance. Chad is ranked 135th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.