Bamako – A Malian court on Thursday granted provisional freedom to 11 junta opponents arrested for “plotting” against authorities, after they called for a return to civilian rule, according to one of the freed critics and a judicial source.
The 11 released included former ministers and leaders of political parties and movements who signed a declaration published in March calling on the military to return power to civilians.
They were arrested in June for “plotting against the legal authorities and holding an illegal meeting” while gathering in the capital Bamako at one of their homes when political party activities had been banned.
The military authorities introduced the ban in April as part of their ever-harder line on dissent since seizing power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. They lifted the ban in July.
“We all went home. The prosecutor told us it was a provisional release but without judicial supervision and without travel restrictions,” one of the released junta opponents told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A judicial source confirmed to AFP that they had been granted provisional releases.
The signatories of the March declaration had denounced the “legal and institutional vacuum” left after a deadline set for the military to leave power had expired.
They had called for a presidential election to be held “as soon as possible”.
The West African country is battling a political, security and economic crisis and has been ravaged by jihadist violence since 2012.
In June 2022, the junta decreed that the military would cede power to civilians at the end of March 2024, after a presidential election scheduled for February of the same year, only to renege on the promise.
The military later said that election would be postponed without specifying a new date.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
