These soldiers were arrested in Mali in July. Qualified as “mercenaries”, forty-six of them had been sentenced at the end of December to twenty years in criminal imprisonment.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The chief of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, granted Friday, January 6, the grace “with total delivery of the penalties” to the forty-nine Ivorian soldiers arrested in July and then condemned by the Malian justice.
The text of the presidential decree specifies that these soldiers had been condemned for “crimes of attack and conspiracy against the government, involved in the external security of the State, detention, port and transport of weapons and ammunition of War or defense intentionally in relation to an individual and collective enterprise with the aim of disturbing public order by intimidation or terror “.
This grace “thus confirms the dynamics created following the signature in Bamako, on December 22, of the memorandum of understanding relating to the promotion of peace and the strengthening of relations of friendship, fraternity and good neighborhood Between the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, “said the press release.
These Ivorian soldiers had been arrested in Mali, described as “mercenaries” and then charged in mid-August as “attempt to affect the external security of the state” and imprisoned. Three of them, women, were released later. The forty-six others were sentenced on December 30 to twenty years in criminal imprisonment.
The President in office of West African States (CEDEAO) had assured Wednesday that there would be no sanctions against Mali immediately despite the expiration of the ultimatum fixed at 1 er January to the Malian junta to release them, to let Togolese mediation work at the release of the forty-six Ivorian military.