Mali’s junta leader has freed a French citizen who was serving a 20-year sentence for allegedly trying to overthrow the government.
President Assimi Goïta granted a presidential pardon to Yann Vezilier on Thursday, a year after authorities accused him of working “on behalf of the French intelligence service” to destabilize Mali.
The government announced the decision on Facebook. It said the pardon does not overturn the court’s findings, but that Vezilier will be removed from Mali immediately.
France has not commented yet. The foreign ministry previously called the spying accusations “unfounded.”
Vezilier was arrested alongside several army generals and dozens of soldiers. At the time, Security Minister Gen. Daoud Aly Mohammedine said the group had help from “foreign states” to target republican institutions.
The case comes as Mali’s ties with France have collapsed. The former French colony has been fighting a jihadist insurgency since 2012. After Goïta took power in a 2021 coup, Mali cut security cooperation with Paris and turned to Russian allies instead. Security has not improved. Jihadist attacks have continued, including a truck bombing in April near Bamako that killed the defense minister. Goïta then named himself defense minister.
Political pressure has also grown. Last May the junta dissolved all political parties after rare anti-government protests. Elections promised within two years of the coup have not happened. In July 2025 the transition was extended by five years, allowing Goïta to stay in power until at least 2030.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are now coordinating security together, but the region still faces some of the world’s deadliest militant violence.
