In Mali, Youssouf Daba Diawara, a close friend of Imam Mahmoud Dicko, was placed in pre-trial detention on Monday, July 15. Youssouf Daba Diawara is the general coordinator of CMAS, the Coordination of Movements, Associations and Sympathizers of Imam Dicko, fiercely opposed to the current transitional authorities. CMAS was officially dissolved by the transitional authorities last March.
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After spending three nights at the Judicial Investigation Brigade, Youssouf Daba Diawara appeared in direct summons at the Court of Commune V of Bamako, he is being prosecuted for ” opposition to legitimate authority “.
According to judicial sources, it is his participation in a demonstration on June 7 in Bamako that Youssouf Daba Diawara is accused of. This demonstration was organized by the Synergie d’action pour le Mali, which brings together many political and civil society movements demanding a return to constitutional order and of which CMAS – the organization of Imam Dicko, of which Youssouf Daba Diawara is the coordinator – is a member.
That day, the few dozen demonstrators had protested against the power cuts and demanded the organization of elections. The journalist Yeri Bocoum, the only one who had dared to cover it, was released at the end of June, after three weeks of detention in the secret jails of State Security, and outside of any judicial framework.
Read alsoMali: Journalist Yeri Bocoum released
On March 25, the Bamako governorate banned the Synergie d’action from carrying out its activities in the Bamako district, officially citing the ” security context “.
According to one of his lawyers, it is for having violated this ban that Youssouf Daba Diawara is now being prosecuted, more than a month after the demonstration.
The suspension of political activities of Malian parties and associations, decreed throughout the country in April and lifted last week, was not mentioned.
The defense denounces the ban formulated by the governorate against the Synergie d’action, deemed ” contrary to the Constitution “, as well as the conditions of arrest of Youssouf Daba Diawara: ” removed ” Friday in his car with his mother, by hooded men without a warrant who blindfolded him, before taking him to the Judicial Intervention Brigade.
” This is a flagrant violation of his most basic rights. “, says the lawyer, who intends to quickly request the release under judicial supervision of Youssouf Diawara, pending his judgment scheduled for October 3.
A close friend, a member of the Synergie d’action, believes that this procedure is intended to weaken Imam Dicko, currently in exile in Algeria, and does not hide his fears about the risk of new arrests among opponents of the Synergie d’action for Mali.
When contacted by RFI, the prosecutor of the Court of Commune V of Bamako did not respond.
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