Mali: France contests 20-year prison sentence for diplomat Yann Vezilier

France has rejected the 20-year prison sentence handed down by Malian courts against Yann Vezilier, a French diplomat assigned to the embassy in Bamako. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the accusations 'baseless' and maintained that the agent was acting within the framework of a security cooperation mission. Vezilier was arrested on August 13, 2025, by Mali's State Security, suspected of participating in a network collecting sensitive information and preparing a destabilization plot. The ruling comes amid deteriorating relations between Paris and Bamako since the end of French military operations in Mali.