The investigations into the arrest of French journalist Olivier Dubois by a jihadist group in Mali were entrusted to investigating judges on October 3, 2022, we learned on Tuesday from a judicial source.
The 48-year-old freelance journalist, who has lived and worked in Mali since 2015, himself announced his abduction in a video posted on social networks on May 5, 2021.
Kidnapping investigation
He explained there that he was kidnapped on April 8 in Gao, in northern Mali, by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda.
The national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office had opened a preliminary investigation for "
kidnapping in an organized gang
" and "
in connection with a terrorist enterprise
".
Judicial information was opened on October 3 and entrusted to investigating judges from the anti-terrorist pole of the Paris court, said the judicial source.
After almost a year of silence, a second video by Olivier Dubois was released on March 13, 2022 on social networks, with no indication of the date on which the images were shot.
In the video, the hostage, who appeared to be in good health, had addressed his family and the French government asking to "
continue to do our
best " for his release.
The journalist, father of two children, also mentioned the messages from his relatives, described as a "
breath of fresh air
", which he received via RFI radio.
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But the Malian junta suspended the broadcasting of RFI and the France 24 television channel on March 17, 2022 in a context of tensions with France.
"
Since the hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s, more than thirty years ago, no journalist has been held captive for so long
," recalled forty French-language media editors in a column published by the daily
Liberation
. in October, eighteen months after the kidnapping of Olivier Dubois.
Appeal to the French authorities
His family launched an online petition in 2022 to demand his release and made a video for the first anniversary of his abduction to raise awareness.
The French authorities regularly claim to remain mobilized to put an end to the captivity of the journalist, who works for
Liberation
,
Le Point
and
Jeune Afrique
.
Olivier Dubois is the only listed French hostage not held by a state in the world since the release in October 2020 of Sophie Pétronin, also kidnapped in Mali.