Investigative journalists from Forbidden Stories, France 24, Le Monde, and Important Stories uncovered evidence that Russian Wagner Group mercenaries operated a network of secret detention facilities in Mali where civilians were unlawfully imprisoned.
The reporting team verified these clandestine prisons through firsthand accounts gathered from former detainees at Mauritania's Mbera refugee camp. Their investigation pinpointed six such facilities across Malian towns including Nampala, Sevare, and Bafo, with some operating within official Malian military compounds.
A Sahel region expert explained to reporters: "Wherever Wagner establishes a presence, detention centers follow. Anyone detained but not executed winds up in these prisons—they're seizing livestock herders, merchants, truck drivers indiscriminately."
Survivors described systematic torture methods: beatings with electrical cords and batons, waterboarding, confinement in sun-scorched metal containers, and electric shocks. One former prisoner recounted how Wagner operatives played Russian music during torture sessions.