On Wednesday, the Abidjan Criminal Court handed down life sentences to 11 people in a March 2016 jihadist attack on the coastal town of Grand Bassam in Ivory Coast, which killed 19 people, including Europeans.
The four defendants present, Hanta org Mohamed cissé, Sidi Mohamed Kounta, Mohamed cissé and Hassan Barry, were among those believed to be the brains (who were absent from the trial). ), and was accused of complicity in the attack, particularly by identifying the location of the attack. Denied.
Fourteen other defendants are either at large or detained in Mali. Seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, also remained absent, and seven were acquitted.
Among those sentenced in absentia is Mimi ould Baba ould El Moktar, who was arrested by soldiers of the French Barkhanes army in January 2017. He is believed by Ivory Coast authorities to be one of the masterminds of the Grand Bassam attack, and by Burkinabe. Authorities said he was responsible for another attack in January 2016 in Ouagadougou that killed 30 people.