Mali: opponent Mariko arrested for "insulting remarks" against the Prime Minister

President of the Sadi party, several times deputy and figure of Malian political life Oumar Mariko (here on the right) was arrested on Monday (illustrative image) AFP - MICHELE CATTANI

Text by: David Baché

2 min

President of the Sadi party, several times deputy and figure of Malian political life Oumar Mariko was arrested Monday for "insulting remarks" against Prime Minister Choguel Maïga.

Comments made in a recording that circulated on social networks, in which this Malian opposition figure reacted vehemently to a first recording, which had also toured the networks, and in which we heard the Prime Minister this time Malian himself.

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In both cases, these are private discussions that were recorded and broadcast on social media.

The first audio circulated last week: we hear Prime Minister Choguel Maïga talking about Amadou Sanogo, and explaining that the leader of the 2012 coup d'état had escaped a real judgment on the merits - in the case of soldiers assassinated red berets - because he held too many secrets on too many Malian politicians, and even on France which would have, according to this recording, tried to have the former putschist assassinated.

Choguel Maïga's voice seems easily recognizable but, as a close friend of the Prime Minister reminds us, “

 Neither this relative, nor Choguel Maïga himself, nor his advisers to the Prime Minister wished to confirm or deny the authenticity of this recording.

No comment on the veracity or fancy of its content either, simply described as "

"

What Oumar Mariko did not hesitate to do.

In another recording put online in the wake of the first, we hear this opposition figure claiming, in reaction, that the current Prime Minister is a "

" and that, during an old quarrel, he even had almost hit him. 

It was following these words qualified as "

" that Oumar Mariko was arrested by the Camp 1 research brigade of the national gendarmerie, as part of a preliminary investigation initiated by the court of Commune 4 of Bamako, where a source close to the prosecution confirmed this information.

Oumar Mariko was arrested at the same time as Aboubacar Camara, also a member of Sadi and radio columnist who had recorded some of the remarks today alleged against Oumar Mariko.

Joined a few minutes before going to his summons on Monday, Oumar Mariko denounced the "

", according to him, in Mali and affirmed: "

.

" 

The file must be transmitted Tuesday to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which will decide on a possible indictment.

This police custody is a very bad signal sent by the transitional authorities to try to silence, intimidate and silence the voices which are not completely favorable to them ...

Mohamed Ag Akeratane, the general secretary of the Sadi party

David Baché

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