A man from Mali (region of Mopti) requested international protection in France, arguing that he would be exposed, in the event of return to the country of origin, to persecution or serious harm by armed groups in his region on account of imputed political opinions and also considering the security situation, without being able to benefit from the effective protection of the authorities. He argued that there were accusations against him for supporting the Peuhl community.

He claimed that on 8 September 2022, while Dozo hunters had been attacking members of the Fulani community in the Djenné area since the previous day, and while he was accused by them of defending the Fulani community, they attacked his home and murdered his father. Dozo hunters took him to Mopti prison, detained him for about twenty days, and tortured him there. On 20 November 2022, he was transferred to a prison in Bamako where he was held for two months. At the end of January 2023, he was released thanks to the financial intervention of his brother. Fearing for his safety, he left Mali on 26 January 2023 and arrived in France where he requested international protection.

By decision of 29 October 2025, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) rejected the request and the applicant appealed before the National Court of Asylum (CNDA).

The CNDA allowed the appeal and provided subsidiary protection.

First, the CNDA noted that the applicant's consistent and personalized statements made it possible to establish his Malian nationality and origin from a village in the Mopti region. However, his statements did not establish that he would be personally exposed to persecution on account of an alleged targeting by the Dozo hunters.

The CNDA then proceeded to examine his application in light of the situation in Mali, particularly in the Mopti region.

The court noted that since 17 January 2012, Mali has been gripped by an armed conflict between jihadist armed groups and the Malian Armed Forces, supported, since the end of Operations Barkhane and Takuba in 2022 and ceasing of operations by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on 31 December 2023, by the Russian paramilitary organization Africa Corps, which succeeded Wagner.

The court observed that since April 2025, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported hundreds of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances and other abductions committed by all parties to the conflict. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), there was a high level of violence in the country with many victims. The conflict generated 1.3 million internally displaced persons. Insecurity was exacerbated by terrorist groups targeting state symbols, including schools and health centres.

Concerning the region of Mopti, the CNDA noted that during the second quarter of 2025, violence intensified and diversified, affecting civilian populations, with a persistent concentration in the northern and central regions mainly in Timbuktu and then in Mopti, making the region one of the deadliest in the country. The court cited a report of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons of Belgium, which emphasised reports that the Mopti region was among the main hotbeds of violence targeting the civilian population, that the jihadist group had intensified its use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and drones, significantly increasing the number of deaths. The court further cited other sources which confirmed that

Therefore, the CNDA considered that the applicant's mere presence in the Mopti region would expose him to serious threats to life or person and granted subsidiary protection.