Protests and repression: the UN publishes a report on the days of July 10 to 13, 2020
Barricades erected by demonstrators on the Martyrs Bridge in Bamako, July 11, 2020. MICHELE CATTANI / AFP
Text by: David Baché
4 min
Before the military coup, in the midst of a challenge to the regime of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the demonstrations followed one another, with overflows in the ranks of the demonstrators, with also a murderous repression by the police.
Minusma investigated at length what really took place during these days, from July 10 to 13.
She has just published her findings.
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14 demonstrators, including two children, were killed in Bamako by the police during these days of demonstrations.
Three others were killed in Sikasso.
Minusma speaks of "
summary and extrajudicial executions
" and points to "
disproportionate use of force
", including the use of live ammunition.
About 40 demonstrators were also injured in the Malian capital.
Figures verified and cross-checked after more than 200 interviews conducted with families of victims, political leaders, civil society organizations or even medical staff in certain hospitals.
The investigators also visited the main sites affected by this violence (
the ORTM headquarters
, the state radio and television, the National Assembly and the mosque of Imam
Mahmoud Dicko
).
Arbitrary executions and arrests
The various organs of the internal security forces are concerned, since this violence was committed by the gendarmerie, the police, the national guard and the Forsat, an antiterrorist force whose mobilization in the face of demonstrators had sparked controversy.
Finally, the report notes that at least 200 people, including women and children, were arrested and illegally detained in Bamako.
Among them, political figures who led the protest (Choguel Maïga, Mountaga Tall, Imam Oumarou Diarra and Issa Kaou Djim, then united within the M5-RFP).
All of them had been released fairly quickly.
The report also points to significant restrictions on Internet access, constituting “
infringements of the rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens
”.
Legal proceedings
The UN investigators do not mention any name: whether it is the contested use of Forsat, or especially the executions carried out in the context of the repression of demonstrations, the Minusma stresses that it is up to the national authorities to establish the responsibilities. each and to take legal action.
The conclusions of the report were also shared with the transitional authorities, as they had been with the leaders of the old regime.
Violence by demonstrators
Investigators from the Human Rights division of Minusma were also interested in the excesses incumbent on the demonstrators, with violence, which injured a hundred members of the police, but also acts of vandalism and looting. , against public or private property, or the installation of barricades impeding traffic.
Minusma has also noted numerous calls for hostility and even violence, in the written and audiovisual press or on social networks.
Appeals launched, in particular, against the then president,
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
, against the government in place, but also against the Minusma, the ECOWAS and the international community.
At the material time, some allegations of more than twenty people killed by the police, or even sexual violence suffered by demonstrators, had been relayed.
Minusma investigators specify that they were aware of and investigated these figures and these allegations, which therefore turned out to be unfounded or, in any case, unsupported.
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