Bamako - Mali's former junta chief, General Amadou Sanogo, has been detained after being questioned by a judge on Wednesday over what a senior judicial source said were accusations of post-coup violence by the army and financial crimes.
The source said Sanogo had been charged with murder although this could not immediately be confirmed by Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who told Reuters he had been remanded in custody.
Mali's newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is under pressure to restore the state's authority over the army, which overthrew President Amandou Toumani Toure last year, plunging the West African country into chaos.
Controlling the army, along with regaining control of the north, which was occupied by separatists and Islamists rebels until a French-led intervention in January, are widely considered Keita's two biggest challenges.
A spokesman for the group of soldiers involved in last year's coup declined to comment on Sanogo's detention.
The judiciary source said authorities questioned Sanogo over army violence linked to a counter-coup shortly after he seized power in March 2012 and suspicions of financial crimes related to money transfers from the government.
“He needs to account for the use of sums that he received from the defence department,” he said, asking not to be named.
It was not immediately clear if the financial probe was linked to a report released this week by Mali's auditor general which found that 49.4 billion CFA francs ($102.12 million) had been lost in 2012 to fraud and mismanagement.
Sanogo had repeatedly been called in for questioning over the deaths of six soldiers during an army protest in September but failed to appear.
The hearing took place on Wednesday in the Faladie Gendarme training college of Bamako and not the regular court for security reasons, an army officer said.
After ceding power under intense international pressure last year, Sanogo, then a captain, headed a committee tasked with reforming the army. The new government removed him from that post in August but he retained his rank as general.
Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, called the detention of Sonago “hugely significant” and said Mali's legal system had demonstrated considerable courage questioning such a powerful figure.
“But many other victims of abuses by all warring factions during Mali's recent armed conflict await justice,” she said.
Birama Cisse, a shopkeeper in the capital Bamako, welcomed the news that Sanogo had been forced to appear before a judge.
“Like all Malians, General Sanogo is not above the law. He must respond to the court summons and this should be an example to others,” he told Reuters.
But others in the capital, where many supported his coup due to frustrations over corruption and the lack of progress under Toure, expressed concern that the detention could result in an army backlash at a time when Mali is still seeking stability.
“I'm afraid that this hearing will lead to a mutiny in the army. He has supporters,” said student Mamou Diabate.
While it revamps its army, Mali is still struggling to cope with al Qaeda-linked rebels, who were scattered by French forces in a January intervention but are still launching sporadic attacks in the country's north.
Two French journalists were abducted and killed by gunman in the north Malian town of Kidal earlier this month.
Reuters