Coup plot: French citizens get presidential pardon

Frenchman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mali for alleged coup plot has been granted a presidential pardon, it was announced on Thursday.

Yann Vezilier was accused a year ago of trying to destabilize President Assimi Goïta’s government “on behalf of the French intelligence service” alongside a number of Army Generals and dozens of soldiers.

In a post on Facebook, the Malian government said: “This act of clemency, which does not call into question the facts established by an adversarial judgment rendered during a trial, where all rights of the defence were respected, is accompanied by the immediate removal of the individual from national territory.”

At the time of the arrests last year, Mali’s Security Minister Gen Daoud Aly Mohammedine said “fringe elements of the Malian armed security forces” had been detained for seeking to “destabilize the institutions of the Republic”.

“These soldiers and civilians” were said to have obtained “the help of foreign states”, the minister said.

Last May, the military government dissolved all political parties following rare anti-government protests, which former Prime Minister Moussa Mara described as a severe blow to reconciliation efforts initiated by the military leaders.

Goïta had promised elections within two years of seizing power, but these have never been held.

Last July, the transition period was extended by five years, clearing him to continue leading the country until at least 2030.