Former Mali PM Choguel Maiga faces embezzlement charges
Mali’s former Prime Minister Choguel Maiga is facing embezzlement charges amid a broader military crackdown on dissent, according to an Al Jazeera report published on 20th August.
Maiga, who became PM after Mali’s 2021 coup, was dismissed in November 2024 following outspoken criticism of the junta for failing to clarify when power would return to civilians. He was arrested last week and remains in custody. The charges were revealed on August 19th after a Supreme Court hearing.
Prosecutors accuse Maiga of laundering several million US dollars’ worth of CFA francs. His lawyer, Cheick Oumar Konare, said no trial date has been set but insisted that “we believe in justice, we are calm while awaiting the trial.”
Nine of Maiga’s former colleagues also appeared in court, with two charged, some acquitted and other awaiting hearings.
Maiga’s detention follows a wave of arrests linked to an alleged coup plot. Earlier this month, another former PM, Moussa Mara, was jailed after tweeting support for critics of the military. Rights groups say the arrests are part of a growing pattern of repression.
Mali has been in a state of crisis since 2012, with Islamist insurgencies and armed groups triggering widespread violence and mass displacement. Protests in 2020 paved the way for the military to topple the civilian government, before seizing power outright in 2021.
Colonel Assimi Goita, who led both of the coups, was later sworn in as transitional president. Under his leadership, the junta has dissolved political parties, jailed opponents and in July secured a renewable five-year mandate without elections.
Maiga, once a supporter of military intervention, has since become one of its harshest critics, accusing leaders of weaponizing the courts. Observers say his arrest underlines the junta’s increasing fragility.
Mali is one of three countries to have left the regional trading bloc ECOWAS to form a parallel alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Burkina Faso and Niger partnered with Mali after coups in all three states left them wanting to establish political and economic independence and lean away from Western alliances.
AFP via agencies, Maghrebi
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