Fifteen jihadists sentenced to death in Mali
Fighters from the Islamist group Ansar Dine in Timbuktu, April 2012 (illustration).
AFP PHOTO / AFPTV / FRANCE 2
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2 min
The leader of a jihadist group and fourteen other fighters were on trial Friday, November 13 for operations carried out in the south of the country, on the Ivorian and Burkinabè border.
Souleymane Keita, arrested in 2016, and two other defendants present at the hearing were sentenced to death, while the other twelve, absent at the hearing, were sentenced to death in absentia.
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With our correspondent in Bamako,
Serge Daniel
According to witnesses who saw him arrive in court, Malian Souleymane Keita, the main accused, was dressed all in white.
With a balding onset, graying hair, he made it clear that he was not a terrorist, but a jihadist.
In 2013, he asserted at the helm, he participated, in the ranks of the Islamists of the Ansar Dine group of Iyad Ag Ghali, in the attack on the town of Konna in central Mali, which triggered the attack. French military intervention.
Subsequently, Souleymane Keita took the lead of jihadist fighters who operated in the south of Mali, on the borders of three countries: Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire.
The intention was clear: to install in this area a branch of the Ansar Dine group with recruitment and military operations.
Two of his companions from Burkina Faso also appeared.
They admitted having carried out attacks in particular in Malian localities located on the border with Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
They are among other things found guilty of "
terrorism, possession of weapons of war, and assassinations
".
All three are condemned to death.
Twelve other absent jihadists were sentenced to death in absentia.
Are they dead in the meantime?
Have they escaped from prison or have they regained their freedom in the context of the latest hostage releases in northern Mali?
► Read also:
Trial of the Terrace attack in Bamako: "Ibrahim 10" and Sadou Chaka sentenced to death
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Mali
Terrorism