The groups say it is the first known case before the court against a state for hiring and hosting private military and security actors (PMSAs).

Wagner had a widespread presence in Africa, deploying fighters alongside the armies of countries including Libya and Mali, and also conducted vast disinformation and destabilization campaigns, until it was replaced by the Africa Corps last year.

The case before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACtHPR) involves what the groups said in a joint statement were "serious human rights violations allegedly committed against civilians in Mali in 2022".

The groups filing the suit are TRIAL International, the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

The case is meant "to establish Mali's responsibility both for abuses allegedly committed on its territory and for its failure to prevent violations, protect civilians, and investigate, prosecute and sanction those responsible, as well as provide remedy to victims", it said.

After turning its back on former colonial power France, Mali's junta government in 2021 pivoted to Russia and its notorious Wagner Group for help containing advancing jihadists.

While the Wagner Group delivered victories for the Malian army in the north in 2023 with the recapture of key strongholds from suspected jihadists and Tuareg separatists, the wins were not enough to improve overall national security.

Meanwhile the Russian forces have been accused of numerous abuses against civilians.

The civil groups noted that their filing comes one day after the anniversary of the Hombori massacre and less than a month after the anniversary of the Moura massacre in Mali.

At least 50 civilians were killed and hundreds arrested in central Mali in Hombori after a "Russian advisor" operating alongside Malian soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb in April 2022.

UN rights investigators say Malian troops and foreign forces -- presumed to be Wagner -- were behind the massacre of at least 500 people in the central Malian town of Moura in March 2022.