Madagascar: one year suspended prison sentence for former first lady Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina
Madagascar's President (2014-2018) Hery Rajaonarimampianina with his wife Voahangy, August 5, 2014 in Washington.
AP - Susan Walsh
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina, the wife of the previous Malagasy president, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence on Tuesday February 14, together with a fine of one million ariary.
The former First Lady was found guilty of complicity in false testimony in a case between journalist and former Minister of Communication Rolly Mercia, influential businessman Mamy Ravatomanga and the public prosecutor.
A condemnation that arouses astonishment and annoyance on both sides.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Sarah Tétaud
According to the lawyer for Rolly Mercia, the main defendant in the case, the former first lady Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina would not have received her summons to appear until the day before the trial, when the procedure provides for a minimum of two months.
Residing in France, she therefore did not appear at the hearing and was not represented by a lawyer.
For the HVM, the political party created by her husband
Hery Rajaonarimampianina, freshly returned to the country with probable electoral ambitions
for the presidential election to be held in November, this legal case is akin to a “
political repression
”.
Alain Rasambany, secretary general of the party, explains:
"
When will the current regime stop using the judiciary to take political revenge on people who don't have the same opinion as them?"
Why does the jurisdiction not enter into pending cases, such as the hot issues of
gold trafficking cases
, a really topical subject at the Ministry of Mines?
No file or investigation has been opened in relation to all these files.
So, we always wonder about the independence, autonomy of justice and equal treatment.
»
“
The subject of the complaint, the conviction which coincides with the return of the president to Madagascar, the string is too big!
laments Rivo Rakotovao, the national coordinator of the HVM.
“
Realize: it is a verdict where the person concerned did not even have a file in his hands
”, he adds.
The turn taken by this case also challenges civil society, like Faraniaina Ramarosaona, the coordinator of anti-corruption actions at the Rohy movement:
“
We did not see it coming, this condemnation.
It's quite grotesque as a stratagem on the part of power.
Now, we cannot forget that Mrs. Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina dabbled during her husband's mandate in some dark affairs and corruption cases, alongside Mbola Rajaonah (sentenced to five years in prison last year
for
embezzlement
of public funds , Editor's note)
.
His name appeared several times.
But she was never judged.
»
So far, the Rajaonarimampianina couple refuses to comment.
It is the first time, moreover, that a wife or ex-wife of a Malagasy head of state, since independence, has received a prison sentence.
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Madagascar
Hery Rajaonarimampianina
Justice