The United Nations’ special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings has accused the French military of hampering an investigation into the murder of two journalists in Mali in 2013, reports The Guardian.
Agnès Callamard says the French authorities are hiding behind claims of threats to national security secrecy and contravening international law in failing to arrest and question suspects in the case.
In a 30-page letter sent to the French authorities and seen by the Guardian and the French news website Mediapart, Callamard says the military is using defence secrecy rules to block investigators from establishing the truth.
“Seven years after the events, justice is being denied,” Callamard, who is French, writes. “I am particularly surprised by the fact that although the identity of the suspects has been known for several years – and this despite the imposition of defence secrecy on certain important aspects of the investigation – no international arrest warrant, particularly for Mali, has been issued.
“According to the information obtained, the Malian authorities have never been formally asked to proceed with an arrest or extradition,” she adds.
Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were in northern Mali preparing a series of reports for Radio France International (RFI) before legislative elections when they were kidnapped outside the town of Kidal on 2 November 2013.