Presidential pardon for French alleged spy accused of plotting Mali coup

What the report says

Mali’s military authorities have granted a presidential pardon to French national Yann Vezilier, who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison over accusations that he helped plot a coup against President Assimi Goïta’s government. The pardon was announced on Thursday and, according to the Malian government, was paired with the immediate removal of Vezilier from the country. The authorities said the clemency did not overturn the court findings from his trial.

BBC Africa reports that Vezilier had been accused a year earlier of working “on behalf of the French intelligence service” and of trying to destabilise the authorities alongside army officers and soldiers. France’s foreign ministry had not commented at the time of the report, and had previously described the spy allegations as unfounded.

The case comes against a backdrop of strained relations between Mali and France, and a wider political and security crisis in Mali that has deepened since the 2012 Islamist insurgency. Goïta, who came to power in a 2021 coup, has faced continuing militant violence, delayed elections and a prolonged transition period. In that context, the pardon may be seen as another sign of shifting but still tense relations between Bamako and Paris, though the reasons for the decision were not made clear in the BBC report.