Second day of hearing in Madagascar, for the trial of the “Apollo 21” case, the name given to this supposed attempt at a coup d'état and assassination of the President of the Republic. The request for abandonment ...

"Apollo 21" trial in Madagascar: Paul Rafanoharana refutes any assassination accusation

End of the second day of the Apollo 21 trial, this Tuesday, December 7.

The police force is still very impressive in front of and inside the courtroom.

Text by: Sarah Tétaud Follow

6 mins

Second day of hearing in Madagascar, for the trial of the “Apollo 21” case, the name given to this supposed attempt at a coup d'état and assassination of the President of the Republic.

The request to abandon the proceedings for procedural flaws, requested Monday by the defense, has so far not been answered.

Also, the day of Tuesday was exclusively devoted to the hearing of Franco-Malagasy Paul Rafanoharana, one of the alleged brains of the case.

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,

At the bar, the fifty-year-old, Saint-Cyrien, whose name had been mentioned at the beginning of the year to replace the current Prime Minister, submitted to 6 hours of questions from the advocates general, the judge, his own lawyers as well as those of the 19 other defendants. The man, very introduced in the political circles as economic, does not deny having imagined a means to clean up the entourage of the president. However, he refutes any accusation of murder.

I consider that it is not a crime to have thought of neutralizing the mafia which harms the country and to have wanted to help a president prisoner of fights of influences

", proclaims Paul Rafanoharana, in front of the jurors. Admitting to having written the famous two-page document, at the origin of the affair, in which are listed various items of expenditure to carry out a commando operation, he nevertheless wishes to qualify: "

I did not develop a project but a budget sketch.

And this is all the nuance, explains the accused, also ex-adviser to Andry Rajoelina during the Transition. According to him, it was a reflection. Only a reflection. “

I didn't act, nobody acted. It was a purely intellectual phase. And you provide no proof of any start of execution,

”he then launches to the Advocate General, defiantly.

Non-execution is the axis chosen by its defense.

Maître Willy Olala is one of his lawyers: “

A budget is an ambition.
An ambition, or a budget, is not a criminal offense.
It is not punishable.
He never prepared an act to carry out an attack or kill someone.
The public prosecutor will have a very, very difficult job: they are pitiful because it is up to them during the trial to give evidence that the accused is guilty.
But there is none.
So how is the prosecution going to do it?

► To read also: Madagascar: tense atmosphere during the trial of the "Apollo 21 Project" case

After answering the questions of his own lawyers, the former French gendarmerie officer submits to those of the lawyers of his co-defendants.

I asked him: do you know these men

(my clients, editor's note)

»Says Master Sylvia Ramaherison, who defends 6 soldiers of the intervention group of the Malagasy gendarmerie, accused of conspiracy. “

Because the charge is the same for everyone,

” she continues. “

Criminal association! Mr. Paul said, "I have no relationship [with these people], I haven't called them, I haven't written an email." He does not know most of these accused who are charged with him!

At the bar, in response to Master Ramaherison, the Franco-Malagasy tries a touch of humor.

“

No pun intended, I plotted with myself.

By that you mean "

alone

On several occasions, he will affirm to have drawn up the budget document without the assistance of anyone and will admit during the day Tuesday not to understand why all the people seated behind him, “

are there

”, on the dock of the accused.

What is the element that triggered your will to neutralize

"the Mafia ?" »Asks the President of the Court. Paul Rafanoharana unrolls the thread of events. According to his explanations, Yvon Sareraka (now on the dock, editor's note), a singer known for his committed lyrics and at the time in charge of the Presidency, would have advised him to meet two close to the president , - Mamy Ravatomanga, sulphurous businessman, and Naina Andriantsitohaina, businessman and current mayor of the capital - in order to be dubbed by them and increase his chances of being retained on the list of ministers. At the same time, Monsignor Odon, of whom Paul Rafanoharana was the adviser, had urged him to make contact with these same two people, in an attempt to put back the Catholics "

long excluded.

»At the center of the debates.

A lunch for three is therefore organized in early June 2021, at the town hall of Antananarivo.

But the discussions are cut short.

“

Our positions were difficult to reconcile.
The mayor rejected en bloc the names of ministers that I wanted to propose to the president,

”explains Paul Ranoharana to the Court.

I was exasperated by the reaction of these two men who call themselves '

the masters of the regime'".

According to the accused, it was therefore this lunch that would have pushed him to write his "

budget

", in order to "

rid the country of its vermin.

During his questioning, the accused openly regretted that some people had not been called to testify. Starting with the intermediary who gave the wife of Paul Rafanoharana, the day before their arrest, the 900 million ariary in cash (200,000 euros). The tickets were found at the couple's home; according to the defense, they were to be used to buy 5kg of gold on behalf of his company Tsara First. Or even the adviser to the president to whom the accused sent a list of ministerial names, at the time when the very name of Paul Rafanoharana was circulating as potential Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The ex-gendarme, also former adviser to Andry Rajoelina during the Transition, insisted before the jurors the absence of a search warrant when the police broke into his home on July 20.

And the violation of his rights to defense and the presumption of innocence during all the weeks following his arrest.

During the hearing, the accused was also surprised at the lack of reaction on the part of the authorities even though he had alerted the same advisor to the president of a theft of 100 weapons within the Capsat, the camp of personnel and administrative and technical services.

It is a serious fact, but I do not have the feeling that anyone was worried about this disappearance

At the end of this second day of hearing, the main alleged mastermind of Apollo 21 managed to present himself as "

a white vigilante

" commented by student lawyers.

A vigilante against a background of games of influence and ministerial ambitions.

This Wednesday, it will be the turn of the second French accused to speak at the bar.

► To read also: Madagascar: the trial of the alleged coup attempt opens in Antananarivo

"Apollo 21" trial in Madagascar: Paul Rafanoharana refutes any assassination accusation

"Apollo 21" trial in Madagascar: Paul Rafanoharana refutes any assassination accusation

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