The French Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed its “great satisfaction” after the Malian junta announced the release of an intelligence agent officially assigned to the French embassy in Bamako, who has been imprisoned for a year.

“The return of our compatriot to France, to his loved ones, is a relief for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs as well as for all his colleagues,” the ministry added in a statement.

Assigned to the French embassy in Bamako, Yann Vézilier was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison for “undermining state security” in this Sahelian country ruled by a junta that has broken with France. He was arrested on August 13, 2025 along with several officers of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), during an operation led by the State Security (SE), the Malian intelligence services. He was accused of conspiracy against the institutions.

Weakened military authorities

The French Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denounced “baseless accusations”. In June, he said that the French agent “was carrying out a security cooperation mission and in no case did France participate, directly or indirectly, in the destabilization of Mali.” In response to this arrest, France suspended its counter-terrorism cooperation with Mali in September 2025 and ordered two Malian diplomats to leave its territory.

This pardon, after years of high tensions between Paris and the Malian junta, comes at a time when the Malian military authorities have been very weakened for several months, after a vast offensive at the end of April by a coalition of jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM, affiliated to Al-Qaeda) and Tuareg separatists from the Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA) which have increased their hold in the north of the country.

This measure does not “call into question the facts established by an adversarial judgment rendered during a trial”, the Malian government stressed, however, affirming that the French officer was “tried and sentenced following a fair trial”.