Coup attempt foiled in Mali: total vagueness on the legal procedure

The president of the Malian National Transitional Council, Malick Diaw (C), with the other members of the CNT in Bamako in February 2022. AFP - FLORENT VERGNES

Text by: David Baché

5 mins

Almost ten days ago, the Malian transitional authorities announced that they had foiled a coup attempt supported by a "Western state".

The government of Bamako then undertook to put those arrested at the disposal of justice.

Since then, no more official communication.

The most total vagueness reigns around this alleged putsch attempt and its judicial treatment.

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On 

in a press release, the Malian authorities explained that a " 

", " 

", had tried to overthrow the regime on the night of 11 to May 12.

They had announced arrests.

Lieutenant-Colonel Amadou Keïta is the most senior of the alleged putschists arrested.

This was confirmed by several judicial sources, as well as officials of the National Transitional Council.

As a member of the CNT himself, Lieutenant-Colonel Keïta also benefits from the parliamentary immunity usually granted to deputies.

The rules of procedure of the CNT provide that only an ad hoc committee, “ 

 ”, can lift this immunity, after hearing the person concerned.

An element that the investigating judge in charge of the case will have to take into account, if he has been seized of it.

Press release published on May 16 by the authorities of Bamako, denouncing an aborted coup attempt which would have been carried out by a "small group of Malian anti-progressive officers and non-commissioned officers", "supported by a Western state".

© Facebook / Matdmali

Anti-terrorism judicial unit

According to several concordant Malian judicial sources,

before the court of Commune VI of Bamako, before being placed under a warrant of committal.

The file would have been entrusted to an examining magistrate of the judicial pole specialized in anti-terrorism, a point that the prosecutor of the court of the Commune VI and the investigating judge concerned at the anti-terrorism pole deny respectively, without any other form of precision.

Asked by RFI, the official judicial institutions, including the Ministry of Justice, did not respond.

To date, since the initial press release, the only clarification provided by the Bamako authorities is a denial that the arrest of a CMA fighter – the former rebels who signed the 2015 peace agreement – would be linked to the attempted putsch.

Apart from this denial, nothing since the resounding announcement made on Monday evening 16 on the airwaves of ORTM, the state television in Mali.

How many, who and where are the alleged putschists?

Magistrates, politicians, human rights defenders... Many are those who question this silence of the authorities: has a judicial investigation really been opened?

If so, to whom is it entrusted?

Ten days ago, the government press release stated that the hunt for possible accomplices was continuing.

How many people have ultimately been arrested, and possibly charged, so far?

Where are they held?

Factually, the Malian authorities have still not revealed anything about the acts committed, on this mysterious night of May 11 to 12, by the alleged putschists.

The charges against them have never been disclosed.

Thwarted coup attempt or purge within the army?

A silence that does not fail to fuel the doubts of many Malian judicial and political sources, who do not believe in the reality of this coup attempt, and believe that it is essentially a purge intended to drown out dissenting voices within the military.

The arrest of several military figures in recent days, in connection with another case linked to possible embezzlement in the army budget, also contributes to the general vagueness.

►To re-read: After the foiled coup attempt in Mali, Colonel Malick Diaw in the hot seat?

France in "support"?

No details have been communicated either on the role that would have played in this attempted coup, according to the government press release of May 16, a “ 

”.

What state is it?

What “ 

” did he provide?

France was not mentioned, but it is the recurring target of the Malian transitional authorities.

Last February, the transitional Prime Minister Choguel Maïga had already accused the French ambassador of planning the overthrow of the Malian government, without providing further details.

The French diplomatic sources joined by RFI deny and claim to have no information on this coup attempt – any more than on the previous one – denounced by the Bamako authorities.

Fourth overthrow attempt according to Bamako

In total, this is the fourth time that the Malian transitional authorities have denounced coup attempts.

In December 2020, the former Prime Minister Boubou Cissé and the radio host Ras Bath, among others, had been charged for this reason before being cleared, four months later, by the Malian justice.

The last case concerns the former secretary general of the presidency, Kalilou Doumbia, the former head of the intelligence services, colonel-major Kassoum Goïta, and four other co-defendants.

All were officially charged last November after having, for some, spent several weeks in the jails of State Security (the Malian intelligence services), outside of any legal framework.

Their lawyers denounced particularly violent acts of torture.

The six men are still in detention awaiting trial.

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