Richard Ravalomanana, former president of Madagascar’s Senate under the Andry Rajoelina regime, received a ten-year hard labor sentence on Tuesday, September 1st, from the Antananarivo tribunal. The conviction marks one of the first major judicial consequences for figures in the security hierarchy who oversaw the violent suppression of demonstrations that ultimately brought down Rajoelina’s administration in October 2025.
The tribunal delivered its verdict after a single day of hearings. Ravalomanana was found guilty of complicity in murder and complicity in assault and battery. Prosecutors argued that the retired general wielded substantial influence over the gendarmerie, the paramilitary force responsible for dispersing protests, and that he orchestrated the violent response to demonstrations that swept through Madagascar in September and October 2025.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20260902-madagascar-l-ancien-pr%C3%A9sident-du-s%C3%A9nat-condamn%C3%A9-%C3%A0-dix-ans-de-travaux-forc%C3%A9s.
The crackdown unfolded over nearly three weeks. Security forces deployed tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds of protesters, but the toll reached far beyond what such measures typically suggest. According to the United Nations, twenty-two civilians died and approximately one hundred were injured. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, specifically condemned the use of live ammunition by certain officers.
The General Prosecutor of the Antananarivo Court of Appeals had laid out the case against Ravalomanana in December, stating that he “directed violent actions to suppress the demonstrations.” That accusation preceded his arrest and removal from his Senate position. As a retired general with command authority over the gendarmerie, he occupied a position of direct responsibility for the security forces executing the state’s response to civil unrest.
By contrast, his public profile during those final months of Rajoelina’s rule was anything but obscure. Known for his distinctive cowboy hat and visible display of military medals, Ravalomanana came to embody the authoritarian character of the regime in the eyes of protesters. Demonstrators viewed him as a symbol of state indifference to the hardships facing ordinary Madagascans, and the security forces under his influence became synonymous with the brutality that defined the government’s response to dissent.
The verdict prompted immediate reaction on social media, particularly among younger users who celebrated the outcome and mocked his conviction. His defense attorney, Maître Lazatiana Razafimamonjy, announced plans to appeal the sentence. Whether that appeal reshapes the legal reckoning with the security apparatus responsible for the crackdown remains the central question now before Madagascar’s courts.