It is Dr. Catherine Porter Field, a psychologist at New York University, specialist in post-traumatic stress in torture victims. This is one of the axes of the defense strategy unveiled Monday during the opening statement.

A "Malian Guantanamo"

Counselor Melinda Taylor repeatedly recalled the detention conditions of al-Hassan at the State Security prison in Bamako before being handed over to the ICC in 2018. The lawyer had qualified it as a "Malian Guantanamo."

This morning, Dr. Porter Field was heard enumerating the abuses suffered by al-Hassan: beatings, simulated drowning, threats of sexual abuse and execution... According to her, the former member of the Islamic police has suffered severe post-traumatic stress since then, which affects his daily life.

"Reckless insinuations"

And that is where the defense intervenes, questioning the validity of the interrogations that al-Hassan may have undergone, even after 2018 and even in a rule-of-law context, given his trauma. "Reckless insinuations," according to the prosecutor who attempted an objection rejected by the judge.

► Also read: Mali: victims' turn in the ICC trial of Abdoulaziz al-Hassan of Ansar Dine