[ad_1]
Malian authorities on Thursday accused six prominent figures, including a former prime minister, of attempting to mount a coup, a move that followed a military coup in August, their lawyers said.
The public prosecutor’s office in the capital Bamako said in a statement that six people were being investigated for “conspiring against the government, criminal association, insulting the head of state and complicity.”
A group of lawyers defending the six said that the people, including Boubou Cisse, the last prime minister before the August coup, had been charged with “attempted coup.”
“All of the accused are civilian figures with no established connection to anyone in the military,” they said.
Five of the six have been detained in custody, except for Cisse, whose whereabouts are unknown, the prosecutor said.
Details on the matter are vague, but it comes at a time of turmoil following the ouster of Mali’s president-elect, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, by young army officers on August 18.
Threatened by international sanctions, the junta handed over power to a provisional institution that is supposed to last up to 18 months until the elections are held.
But disenchantment over the slow pace of reforms is growing, fueled by accusations that figures with ties to the military dominate the transitional body.
In their statement, the prosecution did not use the term “attempted coup” as the lawyers did.
It alleged that there were acts that “threatened internal security” and serious evidence of “criminal enterprise” and “sabotage actions” undertaken by the transition authorities.
On Monday, security sources said several people had been detained on December 21, while the prosecution said a “preliminary investigation” had been opened “related to violations of state security.”
In the run-up to his arrest, social media said there had been a plan to “destabilize” post-Mali transitional institutions.
In addition to Cisse, the defendants include his half brother Aguibou Tall, who runs a telecommunications-related agency, and Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, an activist and radio host who is popular with young Malians and whose stage name is Ras Bath. .
The others are Vital Robert Diop, director of Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMI) of Mali, an agency that is in charge of gambling in horse racing, and two senior financial officials, Mamadou Kone and Souleymane Kansaye.
Country in trouble
Another person who was arrested earlier, but later released, is the secretary of the president’s office, Sekou Traore, who holds the ranks of magistrate and minister.
President Keita’s removal from office on August 18 was greeted by cheering crowds. By STRINGER (AFP) His case has been referred from the attorney general to the Supreme Court, the prosecutor said.
Cisse denied on December 23 any involvement in any alleged plot.
Mali, an impoverished landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, is notoriously volatile.
The August 18 coup was the fourth since the nation gained independence from France in 1960.
It came after weeks of intense protests against Keita, who had become unpopular over perceived corruption and failures to push back a jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives since 2012 and forced hundreds to flee their homes.
