Amnesty International says new witness testimony reveals horrors of Mali protest shootings

05 Août 2020

Bamako, Mali,  August 5 (Infosplusgabon) - Human rights watchdog Amnesty International says dozens of witnesses to the shootings of protesters in Mali last month have told the organisation that they had clearly identified some of the perpetrators as the bodyguards of Manassa Danioko, President of the Constitutional Court.

The protests between 10 and 12 July were organized by the ‘Mouvement du 5 Juin-Rassemblement des forces patriotiques (M5-RFP)’, that has been demonstrating against poor governance and electoral fraud in Mali since 5 June and has called for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, among other things.

The demonstrations coincided with the call for civil disobedience by the M5-RFP, but they were brutally repressed by the security forces across Bamako, the capital, resulting in the deaths of at least 11 protesters and bystanders, and dozens being injured, Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday.

“Rumors of the arrest of the leader of the M5-RFP, Imam Mahmoud Dicko, led on 11 July, to a mobilization of demonstrators and residents in the neighbourhood of Badalabougou. Some of them moved towards the house of Manassa Danioko, which is not far from Dicko’s residence,” said Ousmane Diallo, Amnesty International’s West Africa Researcher.

“This led to the firing of live ammunition by security guards and by the police, at the protesters, causing the deaths of four individuals during that incident alone. A fair and impartial investigation into these deaths must urgently be launched, and those responsible must be brought to justice.”

Amnesty International says it interviewed 41 respondents, including witnesses to the violence, injured demonstrators, journalists, opposition leaders and public officials.

It said witnesses and families of victims shared horrific accounts of the violence perpetrated by police in Badalabougou and Sogoninko neighborhoods where protests were held on 11 July, along with the responsibility of bodyguards to the President of the Constitutional Court in the deaths of protesters in Badalabougou.

The report said several of those killed during the three days of repression were not involved in the protests.

It said the violence escalated on 11 and 12 July, following news that security forces planned to arrest Imam Mahmoud Dicko after they had arrested several other M5-RFP leaders.

Amnesty International said the role of the FORSAT,  a special government anti-terrorist unit in the arrests of leaders of the M5-RFP and in the assault of the mosque of Imam Mahmoud Dicko is also of grave concern and deserves thorough investigations.

Amnesty International said it heard from several witnesses that during an 11 July meeting of M5-RFP, hooded men in heavy gear suspected to belong to FORSAT arrived heavily armed in two unmarked public buses to disrupt the meeting.

“Other witnesses recounted seeing FORSAT members deployed to arrest the leaders of the M5-RFP on 11 July. They also were witnessed launching an assault on the mosque of Imam Mahmoud Dicko during the evening,” said Amnesty International's Diallo.

According to one journalist, police officers prevented him from doing his job while he was capturing the evidence of the ill-treatment of three youngsters on 11 July.

He said that when he refused to hand over his cellphone, policemen started beating him with a baton on his head, back and hips. They forcefully took his cellphone, deleted all evidence of their conduct, accused him of being a member of the M5-RFP, before eventually letting him go with his cellphone.

“The lethal use of force by the security forces must be investigated. Protesters and their families deserve to know who gave the licence for the security forces to fire at them and their relatives, and there cannot be any credible solution to the political crisis if human rights are not respected and justice is not delivered,” said Diallo.

“The freedom of peaceful assembly must be respected by the authorities and it is outrageous that security forces, including special forces, fired live bullets at the demonstrators. No citizen deserves to die for expressing their opinion, or for denouncing the poor governance of their own country,” he stressed.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/PLM/GABON2020

© Copyright  Infosplusgabon