Madagascar: Justice Convicts Blogger for Disseminating Presidential Agenda

In Madagascar, Patrick Raharimanana was found guilty of intercepting computer data and disseminating documents that endangered national security. The blogger is accused of sharing the presidential program on Facebook during a controversial tour by Andry Rajoelina last May.

A public figure widely followed on social networks in Madagascar, Patrick Raharimanana, who runs a national news page, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 17 to a five-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 2 million ariary (around 400 euros). The Anosy court accused him of having published Andry Rajoelina’s diary on May 15, while the latter was beginning a tour whose legality was contested.

That day, in the rural commune of Manandriana, a visit by the president was planned. At the request of a local police commissioner, tasked by the presidency with mobilizing the population, Raharimanana posted the agenda on Facebook, counting on his notoriety to publicize the event.

However, the blogger, whose Facebook page is followed by nearly 600,000 people, was ordered to remove the post. He was arrested and taken into custody the following day. “I was held for eight days, transferred without explanation or documents, which I consider to be state sequestration”he confided to RFI.

Accused of“interception of computer data ” and of “publication of documents compromising national security”Raharimanana had published the presidential program at the time when he was on a contested tour, in the middle of the legislative campaign. This period requiring strict presidential neutrality, the action raised criticism. After the conviction, his lawyers immediately appealed.