Russia's Wagner mercenaries tortured hundreds of civilians in Mali: report

By Global Watch and AFP | 2025-06-13

DAKAR, Senegal -- In its more than three years in Mali, the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group kidnapped, detained and tortured hundreds of civilians, including at former United Nations (UN) bases and camps shared with the country's army, according to a report published June 12 by a journalist collective.

The victims, who were interviewed by a consortium of reporters led by investigative outlet Forbidden Stories, spoke from a refugee camp in neighboring Mauritania about waterboarding, beatings with electrical cables and burning with cigarette butts.

The investigation revealed that the use of illegal detentions and systematic torture, which sometimes led to death, was similar to that which occurred in Ukraine and Russia.

The investigation, which was conducted in conjunction with France 24, Le Monde and iStories, identified six detention sites where the Russian paramilitary group held civilians between 2022 and 2024, but the actual number could be much higher, it said.

Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, broke off ties with former colonial power France and pivoted towards Russia for political and military support after coming to power.

The country never officially admitted Wagner's presence, insisting it worked only with Russian military instructors.

Reports of executions

Nonetheless, last week a Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner announced that the Russian paramilitary group was leaving Mali.

Its personnel will be reintegrated into its successor, Africa Corps, another paramilitary group with Kremlin ties, according to diplomatic and security sources who spoke with AFP.

For more than three years, Mali had relied on Wagner in its fight against insurgents who have killed thousands across the country.

The paramilitary group's brutal methods on the ground in Mali have been regularly denounced by human rights groups.

A UN report accused Mali's army and foreign fighters of at least 500 executions during a March 2022 anti-militant sweep in Moura -- a claim denied by the junta.

The foreign fighters were Wagner mercenaries, say Western governments.

Last April, bodies were discovered near a Malian military camp, days after the army and Wagner paramilitaries arrested dozens of civilians, most from the Fulani community.

Wagner's exit from Mali comes on the heels of significant losses suffered by Malian troops and the Russian mercenaries in recent clashes with insurgents.

Wagner losses

In late May, fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) launched a devastating attack on a Malian military base in central Mali, killing dozens of soldiers.

Russian Wagner mercenaries embedded with Malian forces were reportedly among the casualties.

The major losses might have caused the possible end of Wagner's mission, suggesting that battlefield pressure has forced Russia into a tactical retreat, Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel scholar at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, told the Associated Press.

"The lack of an official and mutual announcement from both the Malian authorities and Wagner indicate possible internal dispute which led to this sudden decision," he said. "Simultaneously, this could point to a new framework for Russian presence in the country."

The Kremlin long has used Wagner mercenaries to carry out its military aims while leaving Russia's army at home, and Wagner mercenaries played a pivotal role in the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, Wagner, Russia's best-known mercenary group, was disbanded and restructured after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a suspicious plane crash in August 2023 following a short-lived rebellion against Moscow.