French hostage in Mali: anti-terrorist judges in France to take over investigations

Jihane
Jihane
1 Min Read
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The French news agency has learned from a judicial source that the investigations into the kidnapping of French journalist Olivier Dubois, taken hostage by a jihadist group in Mali, were entrusted on 3 October to investigating judges of the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris court.

On 5 May 2021, the freelance journalist, who has worked in Mali since 2015 for newspapers such as Libération, Le Point, and Jeune Afrique, announced his kidnapping by the Islam and Muslim Support Group (GSIM), linked to Al-Qaeda, in a video posted on social networks.

The French anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office had opened a preliminary investigation for “kidnapping in an organized gang” and “in relation to a terrorist undertaking”.
After almost a year of silence, a second video of Olivier Dubois was posted on social networks on 13 March 2022, in which the hostage asked the French government to “continue to do everything possible” for his release.

The journalist was receiving messages from his relatives via Radio RFI, which led the Malian junta to suspend the broadcasting of RFI and the television channel France 24 in March, amid tensions with France.

Jihan Rmili

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