Great News! Chadian Human Rights Defender Daniel Deuzoumbe Released

Human rights defender Daniel Deuzoumbe Passalet was released without charge on 30 December 2011. He returned to N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, still weak from his hunger-strike.

The N'Djamena High Court sat at Moussoro for two days before it released Daniel Deuzoumbe Passalet on 30 December. The judges ruled that there was insufficient evidence to charge him ( Il a ete libere au benefice du doute). He returned to N'Djamena the same day with Chadian human rights defenders who had come to support him during the hearing. The prosecutor appealed against the decision; so did Daniel Deuzoumbe Passalet, to make sure that the procedures are not indefinitely prolonged by the prosecutor.

Daniel Deuzombe Passalet is president of the Chadian organization Human Rights without Borders (Droits de l'Homme Sans Frontières – DHSF). He was arrested on 19 December over an interview he had given the previous day to Radio France Internationale (RFI) about impunity for the death of 10 men in the custody of the Chadian National Gendarmerie in September. He went on hunger strike in protest, and was still very weak when he was released, but his morale was high. He thanked all Amnesty International members for their support.