Warning: This story contains descriptions of torture and physical violence. Some readers may find it distressing.
A shopkeeper has told the BBC how Russian mercenaries fighting jihadists in Mali carried out the cold-blooded murder of two men in front of him and then threatened to chop off his fingers and kill him too.
This is one of several similar testimonies collected by the BBC showing the tactics used by the Russian fighters as they waged a brutal counter-insurgency operation against Islamist militants in the West African nation - methods widely condemned by human rights groups.
A military junta seized power in Mali in 2021, forcing French troops to leave after accusing them of failing to stem the insurgency. The junta pivoted towards Russia, enlisting the help of the Wagner mercenary group, which was at the time linked to the Kremlin.
Wagner has since pulled out of the country, and its operations have been taken over by Africa Corps, which falls under Russia's defence ministry.
Some of the Wagner mercenaries highlighted their atrocities on an invitation-only Telegram group until it was shut down in the middle of this year, as revealed in a report released by the European Council on Foreign Relations last month.
They "regularly shared photos and videos of murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and desecration of corpses against alleged insurgents and civilians".
The shopkeeper we spoke to has fled Mali and is now living in a refugee camp across the border in Mauritania. We have named him Ahmed and have changed the names of all the victims quoted in this article for their own safety.
He recounted how the Wagner combatants drove up to his store in Nampala in August 2024, wanting to detain his boss, accusing him of colluding with jihadists. Throughout this ordeal, Ahmed experienced severe torture, including near-drowning and threats of execution.
A particularly horrific account involved Ahmed witnessing the beheading of two men, after which the mercenaries threatened him with a similar fate if he didn’t reveal information about his boss.
A global outcry is now calling for justice against the Wagner group, with many victims' voices amplified by humanitarian groups working to document these abuses.
The escalating violence in Mali has forced nearly 50,000 people to flee to M'berra refugee camp in Mauritania, a stark reminder of the human cost of this conflict.
