Highlights: Ras Bath filed a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré. The radio columnist, also an activist in the Collective for the Defence of the Republic, has been imprisoned since 13 March. Youssouf Bathily, his real name, had said at a public political meeting that former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga, who died in custody, had been "assassinated" Ras Bath was later charged with "criminal association" and "insulting the head of state," among others.

Ras Bath filed a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré. The radio columnist, also an activist in the Collective for the Defence of the Republic, has been imprisoned since 13 March. Yusuf...

Mali: Ras Bath files a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré

Ras Bath filed a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré. The radio columnist, also an activist in the Collective for the Defence of the Republic, has been imprisoned since 13 March. Youssouf Bathily, his real name, had said at a public political meeting that former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga, who died in custody, had been "assassinated", without specifying by whom. Pending his judgment, scheduled for June 13, Ras Bath counterattacks: he filed a complaint Wednesday with the Court of Appeal of Bamako against the prosecutor of the Court of Commune IV of the Malian capital, who is prosecuting him.

Malian activist Ras Bath at a rally in August 2018. © AFP - MICHELE CATTANI

Text by: David Baché

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The strategy is daring. In the letter of complaint signed by his own hand and authenticated by his lawyer, Ras Bath directly attacks the prosecutor Hamidou Touré, very active since the beginning of the transition period, in often very political cases.

Ras Bath accuses Hamidou Touré of having "used his function as a prosecutor" to arrest him "illegally" and therefore considers his detention as a "kidnapping". Initially charged with "felt-to-face offence" and "undermining state credit," Ras Bath was later charged with "criminal association" and "insulting the head of state," among others.

In his complaint, Ras Bath accuses prosecutor Hamidou Touré of denouncing "offences that he knows do not exist." A "simulation of offense", according to the radio columnist, which would aim to "seek to conceal and conceal" information on the conditions of the death in custody of former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga.

Finally, Ras Bath considers that the prosecution against him amounts to "intimidation" and expresses fears for his "physical integrity.

Asked by RFI, prosecutor Hamidou Touré did not wish to react to these accusations. The acting prosecutor general of the Bamako Court of Appeal, to whom the complaint is addressed, did not respond.

>> READ ALSO: Mali: the columnist Ras Bath will be tried for denouncing the "assassination" of Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga

Mali: Ras Bath files a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré

Mali: Ras Bath files a complaint against prosecutor Hamidou Touré

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