Former dictator Didier Ratsiraka – Unprecedented conviction and sentence

Given that former dictator Didier Ratsiraka has been indicted with multiple charges, particularly those pertaining to the 2002 post-election crisis, this could be the first of a series of sentencing proceedings. On Wednesday, August 6, 2003, Antananarivo?s Criminal Court sentenced the former head of state, for the first time, to 10 years hard labor, and fined him approximately $200 for misappropriation of public funds. In the name of the honored principle of equality under the law, and given that the charges stemmed from crimes perpetrated shortly after the dictator?s election defeat, the Judiciary opted to sidestep the controversial debate over the regular Criminal Court?s competency to hear this case. Shortly before the start of the proceedings, many critics maintained that Mr. Ratsiraka?s case, much like those of other high ranking officials of the former regime, should be heard by the Supreme Court, as provided for by the Malagasy Constitution. For various reasons, however, the formation of this high court is slow in coming.

Mr. Ratsiraka is charged with misappropriating some $8 million from June through July of 2002, from a subsidiary of Madagascar?s Central Bank, located in Toamasina, his former political stronghold, while he was no longer the official president. His two accomplices, Mr. Blandin Razafimanjato – former minister, and close collaborator of the former head of state – and Mr. Velomita Ferdinand – the elusive CEO of the Central Bank – have each been sentenced to six years of hard labor, and fined approximately $200.

Naturally, since all three men are currently in exile, after fleeing to France following the 2002 post-election crisis, arrest warrants have also been issued when the sentences were pronounced, and the fines imposed. In any event, this was the first time that a Malagasy Court has ever sentenced a head of state. As a reminder, the first indictment against the former dictator stemmed from an August 10, 1991 bloody incident in which he violently put down a popular uprising by ordering his men to open fire on a crowd of demonstrators. When he returned to power in 1997, the incident was quickly quashed. Today, his sentencing is viewed as a political point of no return.