Urgent Action Outcome: Human Rights Defender Free Following Amnesty
On 30 December 2021, Baradine Berdei Targuio was granted an amnesty meaning he is now free. The human rights defender was arrested on 24 January 2020 and spent about 17 months in arbitrary detention; the first seven incommunicado. Two days before his arrest, he posted on Facebook about the President’s alleged poor health and expressed concern for the human rights situation in the Tibesti region in Chad. On 18 September 2021, he was sentenced to three years in prison for breach of the constitutional order. On 10 June 2021, he was provisionally released from detention with restrictions to his movements and right to freely speak.
NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS.
After 17 months in arbitrary detention, human rights defender Baradine Berdei Targuio was released on 10 June 2021. His release, however, was conditional, and he was subjected to a travel ban and gag order preventing him from being able to speak to the media or NGOs about his case. Both conditions constituted violations of his rights to freedom of movement and freedom of expression. On 30 December 2021, the President promulgated a law on General Amnesty for Offenses against the Integrity of the State and Crimes of Opinion that granted amnesty to 44 persons including Baradine Berdei Targuio, removing the restrictions on his liberty, meaning he is now completely free.
Baradine Berdei Targuio was arrested on 24 January 2020 and spent nearly 17 months in arbitrary detention - the first seven incommunicado, in connection to the peaceful expression of his views. Two days before his arrest, he posted on Facebook that the President might be seriously ill and is in France for treatment. He had also addressed an open letter to the President regarding the human rights situation in the Tibesti, Chad, in the context of state of emergency. In August 2020, he was charged with breach of national security, illegal detention of weapons and assault. The charges were later dropped by the Criminal Court and replaced with ‘breach of the constitutional order’. On 18 February 2021, he was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 250,000 CFA (USD$ 430).
Baradine Berdei Targuio’s release follows intense global and national campaigning and advocacy efforts pressuring the Chadian authorities to grant his unconditional release. In a message posted on Facebook on 12 February 2022, he highlighted the ‘‘determination, optimism and perseverance of Amnesty International supporters and [his] two lawyers who accompanied [him] from the beginning to the end.’’