Mali court frees 11 signatories to declaration calling for ruling military junta to stand down

BAMAKO, Mali — A court in Mali has freed 11 opposition leaders who were arrested in June on charges of plotting against the ruling military junta after calling for a return to civilian rule.

Their provisional release on Friday has been seen as an attempt to calm the country’s political climate in the wake of the controversial appointment of Gen. Abdoulaye Maïga as prime minister.

Mali has been ruled by military leaders since the junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year.

The 11 individuals had been arrested on June 20 during an “illegal” meeting held during a period when all political party activities had been banned. They were charged with plotting against the junta after they signed a declaration in March calling for the military to relinquish power.

“The 11 comrades of the March 31st Declaration platform of political parties and associations have been free since yesterday,” former Malian minister Djiguiba Keita, whose opposition Party for National Rebirth (Parena) is a signatory of the declaration, said Friday.

“This release is the result of a process we initiated to ask the authorities to free our comrades as part of the effort to calm the political climate in the country,” he told The Associated Press.

Issa Togo, member of the Adema PASJ party and a former deputy to the National Assembly, said all 11 "are free to resume their political activities and travel.”

Several other prominent political leaders and civil society activists are still in prison in Mali, including Issa Kaou N’Djim, the former vice-president of the National Transitional Council, the legislative body of Mali’s transition, and the economist Etienne Fakaba Sissoko.

Both have been critical of the military regimes of the three countries of the Alliance of Sahel States — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Maïga was appointed prime minister in November, the day after Choguel Maïga (no relation), a civilian prime minister who criticized the junta for postponing the presidential election scheduled for 2024, was removed by junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita.