Overview

• A Forbidden Stories-led probe identified six detention sites, including former UN bases, where Wagner mercenaries held civilians between 2022 and 2024
• Survivors interviewed in Mauritania described torture methods such as waterboarding, beatings and cigarette burns during their captivity
• General Assimi Goita’s junta relied on Wagner fighters from 2021 to 2025 for counterinsurgency operations against jihadist groups
• Diplomatic sources say Wagner formally withdrew in June 2025 but its personnel are being absorbed into the Moscow-controlled Africa Corps
• United Nations investigators and human rights organizations have condemned the abuses and linked foreign fighters to at least 500 civilian deaths in March 2022 operations