Masra, who previously served as Prime Minister and heads Les Transformateurs, received a 20-year prison sentence in August 2025. His conviction stemmed from charges of inciting hatred, which authorities linked to inter-communal unrest in the southern regions of Chad.

For the dedicated members and leadership of Les Transformateurs, this upcoming Saturday, May 16, represents a poignant milestone. It commemorates the day their esteemed leader, Succès Masra, was apprehended from his residence during the early hours, an event that sent shockwaves through the nation’s political sphere.

Despite their leader’s year-long incarceration, the party maintains a reassuring stance, projecting an image of resilience. Dr. Tog-Yeum Nagorngar, the Secretary-General of Les Transformateurs, articulated this sentiment.

“Even from behind prison walls, President Succès Masra’s spirit remains very much present among us,” stated Dr. Nagorngar. “Our party continues to thrive, steadfastly pursuing its objectives without succumbing to any distractions. Dr. Succès Masra has committed no act warranting a year of imprisonment. The accusations leveled against him have been met with a complete absence of substantiating evidence. We firmly believe this to be an administrative and judicial misstep. Today, Marshal Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno holds the sole authority to rectify this injustice, and we earnestly hope he will embrace that responsibility.”

Chad’s political landscape: a crackdown on dissent

Just last week, the political climate further intensified with the sentencing of eight additional opposition party leaders. These individuals, all members of the Political Actors’ Consultation Group (GCAP), received eight-year prison terms. Their conviction followed their arrest for allegedly orchestrating a peaceful protest, with charges including “criminal association, insurrectional movements, rebellion, and possession of war weapons.” Sosthène Mbernodji, who coordinates the Citizen Movement for the Preservation of Freedoms (MCPL), expressed profound regret over these recent detentions. He asserted that, in his view, genuine political opposition has effectively ceased to exist in Chad.

“With their leader incarcerated for a year, Les Transformateurs’ operational capacity has been severely curtailed,” Mbernodji lamented. “The Political Actors’ Consultation Group (GCAP) stood as the last remaining coalition capable of offering an alternative perspective. Now, the authorities have leveraged the judicial system to dismantle this group and silence its eight leading members. I contend that we are no longer operating within a democracy; rather, a prolonged monarchy is taking root, which is deeply lamentable for Chad. It is imperative to ease the social and political tensions to allow for progress. At this juncture, the nation has regressed by some 40 to 50 years, effectively returning to a single-party system reminiscent of the post-independence era.”

In response to this escalating pattern of arrests and convictions, a coalition of approximately twenty opposition parties issued a joint press statement. They collectively condemned what they described as the stifling of dissenting voices and the blatant instrumentalization of the judicial system for political ends.