- Category
- Latest news
Russian Wagner Group Reportedly Committed Executions and Acts of Cannibalism in Africa
A confidential legal report submitted to the International Criminal Court alleges that the Russia-linked Wagner Group committed torture, mutilations, extrajudicial killings, and acts of cannibalism during operations in Mali, Burkina Faso, and other West African countries, as was reported by The Associated Press on June 22.
The brief, seen exclusively by The Associated Press, details a campaign of brutality by Wagner mercenaries, including beatings, maiming with machetes, summary executions and instances of cannibalism. It calls on the ICC to investigate not only individuals linked to Wagner but also the governments of Mali and Russia, whose consent enabled the group’s actions in the Sahel.
Investigators highlighted a private, paid Telegram channel where videos show uniformed men dismembering bodies of presumed civilians, hacking out organs and posing with severed limbs. In one recording, a fighter declares, “I’m about to eat someone’s liver,” while another says, “I’m trying to remove their heart.” In Burkina Faso footage, a man dances with a severed limb before biting into it, and in another clip a soldier slices flesh and proclaims, “It’s really good meat”.
The brief argues that the dissemination of such grotesque imagery may itself constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute’s prohibition on humiliating and degrading treatment. Legal experts contend that leveraging social media to broadcast atrocities represents a novel form of criminal wrongdoing that the ICC must address.
Analysts warn that the embrace of Wagner by several Sahel governments has coincided with a surge in violence and human rights abuses. Observers say social media offers a rare window into remote conflict zones, exposing dehumanization tactics and evidence that could underpin future prosecutions.
Earlier, there were detailed allegations that Mali’s military and Wagner mercenaries in the Kidal region executed civilians, leaving mass graves and eyewitnesses recounting summary shootings and forced disappearances. Rights groups and investigators documented the grisly aftermath of joint operations between Malian forces and Wagner fighters in remote villages, renewing calls for accountability for abuses in Africa’s remote villages.
