Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) strongly condemns the ongoing repressive and intimidatory actions by Chadian authorities against Parliamentarians, human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents.

Since the authorities in Chad commenced these unacceptable actions nearly 3 months ago, and in spite of their parliamentary immunity not having been waived as required by the Chadian Constitution, several Parliamentarians, including PGA Member Saleh Makki, MP (leader of the opposition party PUR), have been arrested and others subjected to arrest warrants, including PGA Member Saleh Kebzabo, MP (leader of the opposition party UNDR) for their purported participation in the alleged “destabilisation of the Republic”. Hon. Kebzabo learned about the apparently politically motivated allegations and related arrest warrants against him while he was outside the country, first in South Africa where he was attending the Pan-African Parliament regular session as part of Chad’s official delegation and then in Senegal for another conference where he met  with the Convenor of PGA’s International Peace and Security Program, Hon. Lamine Thiam (Senegal), Member of the ECOWAS Parliament.

While one parliamentarian, PGA Member Hon. Makki, is still detained even in the absence of any court appearance, Hon. Kebzabo is once again the target of intimidatory tactics by Chadian authorities who accuse him of, inter alia, interference with the administration of justice and defamation, following his condemnation, during an interview, of the situation of three journalists who have been detained for more than three months. The Minister of Justice is currently launching a procedure to waive the parliamentary immunity of Hon. Saleh Kebzabo in order to prosecute him.

Against this background of very worrisome recent developments, PGA renews it call on the Chadian authorities to guarantee that Members of Parliament as well as civil society representatives are able to enjoy their most basic human rights, including freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial. In addition, PGA calls on the international community to underscore the importance to the Chadian authorities of ensuring respect for the human rights of all Chadian people, and, particularly, for opposition political leaders, including so as not to negatively impact the credibility of the next parliamentary and presidential elections, to be held, respectively, in 2015 and 2016.

PGA expresses its undiminished solidarity with and support for the PGA National Group in the National Assembly of Chad.

PGA is currently engaged, within the framework of its Campaign for the Effectiveness and Universality of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) System, in promoting the full implementation of the Rome Statute in the domestic legal order of Chad, which is one of the measures that could address the finding of non-cooperation against Chad that the ICC referred to the UN Security Council and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute as a consequence of Chad’s failure to arrest and surrender President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan during a visit to Chad, who stands accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.