By Hassan Alaoui
How not to salute the release on this day of Wednesday, September 21, 2022 of the young Moroccan Brahim Saadoune, imprisoned for a few months by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine and sentenced to death? How not to warmly thank King Mohammed VI and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) for their concerted intervention in this delicate and sensitive operation?
If there is a relief for his family and for the Moroccan people, it is indeed his relaxation obtained and announced at a time when it was not expected, when all hope of his release seemed doomed to failure and that the images of his imprisonment behind bars offered us only the incredible hypothesis of a definitive incarceration. It took the deployment for months of intensive, discreet but persistent diplomacy with the Russian authorities, in particular the Kremlin, to finally see the first glimmers of hope. King Mohammed VI, sensitive to the plight of the young Moroccan’s family and the appeals of the Moroccan people, has worked discreetly to use all existing and possible channels to obtain his release. And that of the Crown Prince of Arabia, Mohammed Ben Salmane will have indeed contributed very largely to the outcome of this affair.
From the outset, it is appropriate to express the warmest thanks and deep gratitude to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, whose role has been decisive in this regard. Since his arrest last March on the war front by Russian troops as a voluntary “soldier” engaged in the ranks of the Ukrainian army, Morocco has followed with great interest and at the same time mixed concern justified concern regarding the conditions of his arrest and the reactions of the Russian military authorities. The Moroccan people, clearly upset by this captivity, attentive to their fate, a fate that inspired more concern than questions, began to pray and impatiently awaited a legitimate reaction from the Moroccan authorities.
The latter, at the highest level, followed in absolute discretion the situation reserved for Brahim Saadoune. This young Moroccan had integrated of his free choice the army of Ukraine convinced of his obligation to serve the forces of the country which had granted him nationality, namely Ukraine. An act of allegiance to its nobility. This young Moroccan naturalized Ukrainian, married to a Ukrainian citizen, was studying at the University of Aeronautics and Aerospace Sciences in kyiv until his arrest, interrupted of course. He had enlisted in the Ukrainian navy and took part in the army’s counter-offensive to be captured last March in Mariupole, an intense combat zone. The Ukrainian forces allied with Russia who had pledged to liberate Dombass and in particular the provinces of Donestk captured him and were preparing to try him before a court-martial, making him a prisoner of war with a special status. The Kingdom of Morocco thus witnessed the establishment of a trial that was all the more exceptional in that Brahim Saadoune embodied a prisoner of war with an unprecedented status.
In the region controlled by the “separatists”, also taking into account the fact that the Kingdom of Morocco does not maintain relations with the separatist entities which violate the territorial integrity of nations, the only possible and plausible outcome remained a negotiation – discreet and bearer – and above all miraculous.
His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in consultation with Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia, combining their respective efforts mobilized themselves, investing their personal weight in it, playing on their prestige finally obtained the release of Brahim Saadoune. In short, the case has a happy ending and thus illustrates the salutary and perfect understanding and friendship between King Mohammed VI and the Crown Prince of Arabia Mohammed Ben Salman.