Exclusive-Chad opposition figure was likely shot at point-blank range, experts say

FILE PHOTO: President of Chad Mahamat Idriss Deby gestures as he arrives for a meeting over security in the Sahel region at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, November 12, 2021. The REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A prominent Chadian opposition leader, who was killed in February by government troops, appears to have been shot in the side of the head at close range, according to five forensic experts who reviewed a photo of his dead body for Reuters.

The experts' findings, based on the location and nature of the wound visible in the image, call into question statements by Chadian officials that Yaya Dillo was shot dead in an exchange of fire on Feb. 28 when security forces tried to arrest him at his party's headquarters in the capital, N’Djamena.