A Bamako court on Monday sentenced a close ally of Mali’s civilian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga to a year in prison after he signed a document openly critical of the ruling junta, an AFP journalist said.
Boubacar Traore was detained on May 28 after signing a statement strongly opposing the military’s plan to stay in power for several more years.
The document was published by the M5-RFP movement that backs Maiga.
The statement was widely considered to set the seal on the breakdown in relations between the colonels and the prime minister they appointed in 2021. < /p>
Maiga endorsed the statement but for the time being he has kept his position at the head of the government.
The cybercrime unit of the Bamako court sentenced Traore for “undermining the credit of the state”, the “dissemination of false information likely to disturb the public peace” and “contempt of court”.
He is the latest public figure to be arrested or sentenced for criticising the junta that came to power in 2020.
Expressions of opposition have become rare under the military rulers, which have taken an ever harder line on dissent.
Ten opponents were jailed at the end of June for “conspiring against the legal authorities” after they demanded a return to civilian rule.
Former justice minister Mohamed Ali Bathily was arrested at the same time but released shortly after.
However, Bathily was detained again on Friday according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Since 2012, Mali has been plunged into a political and security crisis fuelled by attacks from militants and other armed groups, as well as a separatist struggle in the north.
The military rulers had promised to organise elections and hand over power to civilians by the end of March but later postponed elections indefinitely.