Mali Junta Pardons French Intelligence Officer Sentenced to 20 Years for Espionage

Mali's transitional leader General Assimi Goïta pardoned French intelligence officer Yann Vezilier on Thursday, sentenced in June to 20 years for espionage and coup plotting, and ordered his immediate removal from Malian territory 1234. A Malian government statement said the pardon does not overturn the trial's findings and quoted Goïta calling the release a reflection of "ancestral values of forgiveness, hospitality and magnanimity" 12. France's foreign ministry has called the espionage allegations baseless, maintaining Vezilier was carrying out a security cooperation mission and that France did not participate in destabilizing Mali 12. Mali credited an unnamed "brotherly country" for mediating the release, and a Malian military source told Le Monde, while Morocco's Le360 separately reported, that Morocco played the decisive role 14.