A Malian court has jailed a French embassy official for 20 years for “undermining state security” in a new blow to relations between the west African nation and its former colonial ruler, judicial sources told AFP on Friday.
France lambasted the “baseless accusations” made by the junta against the official who was detained in August last year.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday by a specialised anti-terrorist court, with one source telling AFP the proceedings were held behind closed doors.
The French official was also hit with a $6,225 fine and a 20-year ban on entering Mali, according to three separate court sources, all speaking on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
At the time of his arrest, Malian authorities accused the official, identified as Yann V., of working for French intelligence, and railed against “foreign states” trying to destabilise the jihadist-plagued country.
The official was detained on August 13 in the company of Malian officers, who have since been accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the military junta that took power in a 2021 coup. All the officers were dismissed and none of them have since gone on trial.
After the arrest, Paris suspended counterterrorism cooperation with Mali and expelled two Malian diplomats.
– ‘Baseless accusations’ –
France insisted after the sentence that the charges against the official, who was officially assigned to the French embassy in Bamako, were without merit.
“Our agent is the subject of legal proceedings involving baseless accusations,” the French foreign ministry said. It demanded the release of the official.
“Our official was carrying out a security cooperation mission and under no circumstances has France participated, directly or indirectly, in the destabilisation of Mali.”
Impoverished Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012, fuelled notably by violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State jihadist group, as well as local criminal gangs.
Under junta chief Assimi Goita, the country has turned its back on the West, especially France.
Instead, it has fostered closer ties with Moscow, welcoming Russian mercenaries for help in tackling the long-running jihadist threat.
That situation has become especially critical since the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims carried out coordinated attacks with Tuareg-led rebels on junta positions in April.
Those assaults killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara, widely seen as the architect of the junta’s pivot to Russia, and saw the strategic northern town of Kidal fall to the Tuaregs.
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