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The 46 Ivorian soldiers sentenced, among other things, for attempting to undermine the external security of the State and imprisoned in Mali, will return home in the hours to come this Saturday, January 7 following the pardon granted yesterday by the President of the Malian transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta.
With our regional correspondent, Serge Daniel
Before landing in Abidjan, Ivorian soldiers pardoned by Assimi Goïta will pass through Lomé, indicates a Togolese diplomatic source. ” The President of Togo will officially hand them over to the Ivorian Minister of State for Defense who will return to Abidjan with them. “, she specifies.
Witnesses at the Bamako Gendarmerie camp where the soldiers are being held say the announcement of the presidential pardon was met with restrained joy. Then they had to put their stuff away. Their group leader, Lieutenant Kouassi Sanni Adam, who led the mission when these soldiers were arrested in July, ordered his men to remain dignified.
The other man of the day is the military adviser of the embassy of Côte d’Ivoire in Mali. It is he who coordinates with the Malian side the departure of the pardoned soldiers.
The 46 Ivorian soldiers told their lawyers that they had not been mistreated during their detention.
Relief
The announcement of the pardon granted by Colonel Assimi Goïta to the 46 Ivorian soldiers, detained for six months in Bamako and sentenced to 20 years in prison, arouses a certain relief, in particular among their families and the people who have morally supported them, since the beginning of this crisis. Of the 49 convicted last week, three were released in October.
« We cannot understand this condemnation which was pronounced because, for us, everything was part of a logic of fraternity and solidarity. 49 soldiers on Malian soil, was nothing other than naturally going to help and show the solidarity of the Ivorian people to the Malian people. For us, it was an injustice, given the centuries-old relationship between our two countries. We therefore welcomed the announcement of this pardon granted to the 49 soldiers with joy. We will go to the airport, show them our support which has never been lacking and they will know that, from where they were, the Ivorian people were like one man. “, wanted to underline Yéo Pépégaligui, spokesperson for the movement “We are 49”.
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