French national gets 20 years in Mali over alleged destabilisation plot

BAMAKO, June 5 - A French national accused by Mali’s military-led government of involvement in a plot to destabilise the country last year has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, in a case that has strained ties between Bamako and Paris.

• Yann Vezilier is expected to serve his sentence in Mali following a conviction handed down late on Thursday, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

• Mali’s government announced the arrest of Vezilier last August, along with two Malian generals, accusing him of acting on behalf of French intelligence services to mobilise political actors, civil society figures and military officers against Assimi Goita's government.

• France’s foreign ministry denied the accusations then, saying they were "unfounded" and that Vezilier's arrest was in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

• Mali has experienced more than a decade of unrest fuelled by Islamist insurgencies in its desert north and political instability that led to coups in 2020 and 2021, bringing Goita to power.

• Spokespeople for Mali's government and justice ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on Friday. The French foreign ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.

• Relations between Mali and France, its former colonial ruler, have deteriorated sharply in recent years, part of a broader regional shift that has also seen Burkina Faso and Niger distance themselves from Paris. REUTERS