Mali: Amnesty bills for coup plotters

The Malian National Transitional Council (NTC) adopted two amnesty bills, benefiting the junta, for the coups that led to the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020 and the ouster of transitional president Bah Ndaw in May 2021.

“No legal action can be taken against the perpetrators. We cannot prosecute officials for offenses such as military conspiracy, insubordination, etc.,” said Souleymane Dé, chairman of the CNT’s law commission.

The new laws protect transitional president Assimi Goïta and members of the former National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), the junta that holds part of the power in Bamako, from any future legal action that might be taken against them for a range of crimes and offenses committed during the two coups.

Lecturer at the University of Legal and Political Sciences, Bouréma Kansaye, was quoted by Jeune Afrique as saying he believes that such amnesties are “the work of weak governments” and can be seen, within public opinion, as “a premium for impunity, because we forgive a priori acts that are deemed unforgivable”.

It should be remembered that this is not the first time that coup plotters in Mali have been granted amnesty.