Mali pardons French embassy agent jailed for 20 years

Mali's junta chief Assimi Goita granted a presidential pardon on Thursday to a French intelligence agent working at France's embassy who had been accused of spying and ordered to serve 20 years in jail, Mali's government said.

The government said the official, identified as Yann V., would be removed from Mali immediately. It said the clemency did not call into question the facts established by the court judgment.

The agent was sentenced in June. Malian authorities accused him at the time of his arrest last August 13 of conspiring against the country, which has been ruled by a junta since coups in 2020 and 2021.

France says the charges against the official were without merit. In the days after his arrest, France suspended counter-terrorism cooperation with Mali and ordered two Malian diplomats to leave French territory.

The French official was detained with several Malian officers, who Malian authorities accused of involvement in an espionage and conspiracy network aimed at destabilising the government and staging a coup. The officers have not yet stood trial.

Mali's junta has severed ties with France and moved closer to Russia under Goita. The country has faced a security crisis since 2012, including violence involving groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as local criminal gangs.