Former Mali President Toure to Be Investigated for High Treason

By Francois Rihouay Dec 28, 2013 11:08 AM ET

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Mali’s former president, Amadou Toumani Toure, will be investigated for “high treason,” government spokesman Mahamane Baby said.
Toure, overthrown in a military coup in March 2012, is accused of allowing foreign forces to enter and occupy parts of Mali, demoralizing the country’s military and weakening national defense, according to a statement published on the government’s website.
Mali’s National Assembly, seat of the High Court of Justice, will investigate the accusations, made in a Dec. 18 letter from Mahamadou Bouare, the general prosecutor of the country’s Supreme Court, Baby said by telephone today from Mali’s capital, Bamako.
“The National Assembly isn’t currently in session,” Mali’s chief prosecutor Daniel Tessougue said by telephone. “For the case to be pursued, an extraordinary session would be needed. If no such session is called, the High Court of Justice will return to work, and thus the investigation will begin, after the first Monday in April.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Francois Rihouay in Bamako at frihouay@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net