Ravalomanana may face death penalty

Madagascar's ousted president, Marc Ravalomanana. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Madagascar's ousted president, Marc Ravalomanana. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Published Nov 4, 2014

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Antananarivo -

Former Madagascar president Marc Ravalomanana could face the death penalty for violating Madagascar’s airspace when he returned to the country from exile in South Africa on October 12.

His family heard he would be charged on Monday under a section of the Madagascar Penal Code for violating the country’s airspace.

However, his son Tojo, who is in Madagascar, said on Monday night he had not appeared before the court in Antsirinana, in the far north of the island, as expected. He was trying to find out whether a new date had been set.

Ravalomanana’s family has protested the reported charges as “insanity”, repeating a call on the international community to intervene.

The family said in a statement that Malagasy media and foreign diplomats in Madagascar reported that Ravalomanana would be charged following a complaint lodged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Madagascar about his alleged “clandestine arrival” from South Africa on board a private aircraft at Antsirabe airport, about 140km south of the capital, Antananarivo, on October 12.

The family said that a report on the Orange website in Madagascar (www.orange.mg) had stated: “It is alleged that if Mr Ravalomanana was indeed aboard an aircraft which did not have permission to land in Madagascar, article 82, paragraph 3, of the Madagascar Penal Code could be applied and the former president could face the death penalty.”

The website added that Malagasy authorities had also arrested Jean Marc Koumba, a former bodyguard of Ravalomanana, as well as four civil aviation employees from Antsirabe airport, as accomplices in his return to Madagascar.

Speaking for the family, human rights lawyer Brian Currin said: “What is being ignored is that Mr Ravalomanana has an absolute right to return to Madagascar immediately and unconditionally – and he has had that right since June 2011.

“It is enshrined in the SADC Roadmap to return Madagascar to constitutional normalcy, after the 2009 violent and illegal coup d’état, which was condemned by the global community, forced Mr Ravalomanana to flee.

“They need to drop the charges, release Mr Ravalomanana immediately and start to negotiate with him. If they don’t, the fragile peace on the island is at risk.

“It is time for the international community forcefully to stand up to the regime,” Currin said, noting that a delegation from the Southern African Development Community was reportedly on its way to Madagascar.

He pointed out that Ravalomanana was being held at a military base. - Independent Foreign Service

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