ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS ill-treatment of dozens of marketgoers in The Group for the Support of Islam and April. Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the On 2 April, Malian soldiers extrajudicially Greater Sahara (ISGS) committed war crimes executed four people on the outskirts of and other abuses against civilians. Diafarabé town, according to the victims’ The GSIM blockaded many villages and relatives. The victims, who lived near an army communities, restricting residents’ free camp, were accused of harbouring people movement and access to their farmland and who had attacked the camp that day. water, to force them to cease collaboration In October, Malian soldiers arrested at least with the army. Farabougou village in Ségou 30 people in Sofara on market day. A video region was blockaded for six months until documenting the arrests showed soldiers April. torturing an elderly man to force him to Between April and August, the GSIM confess to belonging to an armed group. blockaded Dinagourou in the Mopti region, Later that month, the army announced it was denying villagers access to their lands during investigating the torture and that the soldiers the rainy season. responsible had been suspended. The same In August, ISGS attacks in the Ansongo communiqué announced that “22 presumed Cercle killed 51 civilians in the Ouattagouna, terrorists” had been arrested in Sofara and Karou and Daoutegeft communes of the held in the gendarmerie’s custody. Ménaka region. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL In March, the Appeal Court of Bamako HUMANITARIAN LAW dismissed all charges, due to lack of Military operations in the Mopti region led to evidence, against several individuals serious human rights violations which could arbitrarily arrested in December 2020. The in some cases amount to crimes under detainees, including popular radio host international law. Mohamed Youssouf Bathily - also known as On 3 January, the French military killed 22 “Ras Bath” - and five senior civil servants people who had gathered for wedding had been accused of plotting to “destabilize celebrations, in an airstrike on Bounti village. the institutions of the transition” with former The airstrike occurred in the context of prime minister Boubou Cissé, who was Franco-Malian military operations between 2 accused but never arrested. They were and 20 January. An investigation by released from custody in April; however, in MINUSMA (the UN mission in Mali) May, Ras Bath was arbitrarily detained again concluded that most of the guests were for a week after he denounced the judiciary’s civilians from Bounti and nearby villages, complicity in the “sham” investigation against including 19 of those killed, while three were him. possibly members of Katiba Serma, a GSIM- Following the coup in May, the military affiliated group. It recommended that the arbitrarily arrested and detained the former Malian and French authorities conduct an president, Bah Ndaw, and prime minister independent, credible and transparent Moctar Ouane without charge at the investigation into the attack and possible Soundiata Keita military camp in Kati; after a violations of humanitarian law. few days, Bah Ndaw was transferred to Camp Following an attack on a Malian military A in Bamako, and Moctar Ouane placed position in Boni (Mopti region) in February, under house arrest in Bamako. The military local residents said Malian armed forces justified their detention on security grounds. committed violations in retaliation, including In August, both were released and allowed to the enforced disappearance of 17 bus move freely. travellers in March and the torture and other Two civil servants were forcibly disappeared for two months, allegedly by the Sécurité Amnesty International Report 2021/22 246