Côte d'Ivoire: un parlementaire malien renvoyé en procès pour outrage au président Ouattara
Mamadou Hawa Gassama, a member of Mali's transitional parliament arrested in early July in Ivory Coast for "insulting the head of state" Alassane Ouattara, will be sent to a criminal court to be tried, his lawyer announced on Tuesday.
Mamadou Hawa Gassama is a member of the National Transitional Council (CNT), the legislative body of Mali, a country neighboring Ivory Coast and ruled by a military regime.
Diplomatic relations between Ivory Coast and Mali have been strained since the double coup of 2020 and 2021 which brought General Assimi Goïta to power in Bamako.
President Ouattara has always been uncompromising in the face of the coups that have shaken several Sahelian countries in recent years.
Mr. Gassama, who was arrested and placed under a detention order on July 2, during a private stay in Ivory Coast, is being prosecuted for two offenses: "insulting the head of state" and "disseminating outrageous expressions via the internet", according to his lawyer, Mr. Mamadou Ismaila Konaté.
On Tuesday, "the Dean of the investigating judges issued an order stating that there is sufficient evidence for Mr. Gassama to be tried by the Criminal Court," the lawyer continued in a statement.
The trial date is not yet known.
The Ivorian penal code punishes offenses against the head of state with imprisonment of three months to two years and the dissemination of outrageous expressions on the internet with one to five years in prison.
In September 2022, Mamadou Hawa Gassama attacked President Ouattara during an interview in a Malian media outlet, after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed an economic and financial embargo on this Sahelian country, to sanction the double military coup of 2020 and 2021.
He had notably described Alassane Ouattara as "an enemy of Mali".
Mr. Gassama, who has been present in the Malian political arena for over thirty years, is known for his outspokenness and was notably an opposition MP under the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the 2010s.
After the arrival of the junta that overthrew him, he was appointed to the National Transitional Council (NTC) which acts as parliament.
Bamako has never officially commented on his arrest.
Commentaires (4)
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