Olivier Dubois was removed in the spring of 2021. The national anti -terrorist prosecution (PNAT) had opened a preliminary investigation for “kidnapping in organized gang” and “in relation to a terrorist enterprise”.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
Investigations on the kidnapping since the spring of 2021 of French journalist Olivier Dubois by a jihadist group in Mali were entrusted to investigating judges on October 3, a judicial source said on Tuesday, January 10.
The 48-year-old independent journalist, who has lived and worked in Mali since 2015, himself announced his abduction in a video broadcast on social networks on May 5, 2021. He explained that he was kidnapped on April 8 in Gao , in northern Mali, by the support group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to al-Qaida.
The national anti -terrorist prosecution (PNAT) had opened a preliminary investigation for “kidnapping in an organized band”, “in relation to a terrorist company”. Judicial information was opened on October 3 and entrusted to investigating judges of the anti-terrorist pole of the Paris court, still according to the judicial source.
The lawyer for the family of Olivier Dubois, M e Laurent Bayon, welcomed “the opening of the judicial information, which allows access to the investigations conducted by The PNAT “during the preliminary investigation. In the file also appears the Malian justice procedure, he said.
online petition
After almost a year of silence, a second video of Olivier Dubois had been broadcast on March 13, 2022 on social networks, without precision of the date on which the images had been filmed. In the video, the hostage, which seemed in good health, had addressed his family and the French government by asking to “continue to do his best” for his release.
The journalist, father of two children, also mentioned the messages of his relatives, described as “fresh air”, which he received by Radio France Internationale (RFI). But the Malian junta suspended on March 17, 2022 the broadcast of RFI and the France 24 television channel in a context of tensions with France.
“Since the hostages in Lebanon, in the 1980s, more than thirty years ago, no journalist was held in captivity for so long”, had recalled 40 editors of French -speaking media in A forum published by the daily Liberation in October , eighteen months after the kidnapping of Olivier Dubois. His family launched in April 2021 an online petition to request his release and made a video for the first anniversary of his kidnapping in order to raise awareness.
The French authorities regularly ensure mobilized to put an end to the captivity of the journalist, who works for Liberation, Le Point and Jeune Afrique. Olivier Dubois is the only French hostage identified not retained by a state in the world since the Liberation in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, also removed in Mali.