Trending 
A high court in N’Djamena on Tuesday found four Chadian journalists, three of whom have been imprisoned since March, not guilty of charges related to “conspiring” with Russia’s Wagner Group.
The public prosecutor had sought two-year jail terms for the defendants last Wednesday.
The journalists were suspected of providing “information relating to the country’s security and economy” and “having worked with the Russian paramilitary group Wagner,” according to a statement from public prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye, who had cited “incriminating documents” obtained after a “denunciation.”
Unjust Detention and Call for Freedom
Alain Ndilyam, spokesperson for the defence lawyers, expressed delight at the verdict, telling AFP, “We are delighted that our clients have regained their freedom, because some of them have been unjustly detained in prison for more than four months, despite their status as journalists.”
The acquitted journalists include Olivier Monodji, director of the local weekly Le Pays and a correspondent for Radio France Internationale; Ndilyam Guekidata, another editor at Le Pays; and Mahamat Saleh Alhissein, a reporter at Tele Chad. These three were arrested and jailed in March. Ahmat Ali Adji from Toumai Web Media was also accused but had not been detained.
