Madagascar: creation of a support committee for Philippe François

Philippe François was sentenced (along with others) in December 2021 to ten years of hard labor for “attempted coup” and “attempted assassination” against the Malagasy head of state Andry Rajoelina (our photo) .

© AFP/Bertrand Guay

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

“For a return of Philippe François” is the name of the support committee which has just been set up in France to request the release of the businessman and former French soldier, imprisoned since July 2021 in Madagascar.

Philippe François was sentenced (along with others) in December 2021 to ten years of forced labor for "attempted coup" and "attempted assassination" against the Malagasy head of state Andry Rajoelina.

His relatives have appealed in cassation and the decision of the Malagasy court should be handed down on August 26, 2022. In the meantime, the support committee chaired by Jean-Christophe Ruffin, writer and former French ambassador, hopes to mobilize public opinion and make react the French authorities.

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Jean-Christophe Ruffin takes the head of the support committee because he is convinced that Philippe François is innocent and the victim of political manipulation in Madagascar: "

 The rare proofs that have been brandished are fabricated things, in particular a famous key USB on which there would have been a plan of attack, a budget etc… But all that was engraved on the key after his arrest

.

»

Abandonment

In the eyes of the writer and former ambassador, the businessman and his family have been abandoned by the French authorities: " 

For a year, they have never been received, neither by the minister's cabinet, nor by the minister himself, neither at the Élysée, nor anywhere.

The prisoner was visited for the last time a consular visit in May, he is in a very bad state of health, the request for medical assistance dates from February, that is to say that we are really in remission, complete abandonment and lack of listening.

 »

Media coverage

The order of silence given to the family is no longer appropriate, believes the support committee, which has decided to publicize this affair, to push Paris to act with the authorities of Antananarivo.

►Also read

: Madagascar: trial of the man who gave a thumbs down to the presidential motorcade

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  • Madagascar

  • Andry Rajoelina

  • Justice

  • France