A French national, Yann Vezilier, who was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly plotting a coup in Mali, has been granted a presidential pardon by President Assimi Goita.

The Malian government, in a statement on Thursday, announced the pardon.

“This measure of clemency, which does not call into question the facts established by a contradictory judgment delivered during a trial in which all the rights of the defence were respected, is accompanied by the immediate expulsion of Mr Vezilier from the national territory,” it said.

It added that the clemency offered the opportunity to salute a brotherly country whose good offices, exercised with discretion and in respect for Mali’s sovereignty, contributed to obtaining the pardon.

According to the statement, the clemency demonstrates Mr Goita’s commitment to peace and dialogue, as well as to the ancestral values of forgiveness, hospitality and greatness that characterise the Malian culture.