Yesterday in Anosy, the ordinary criminal court sentenced former interim head of state and retired general Richard Ravalomanana to 10 years of hard labor, following a trial that lasted the entire day. The convicted man was escorted to the 4x4 vehicle that would take him to Imerintsiatosika prison.

The former Senate president hurriedly entered the courtroom through the lawyers' house gate, then via the staircase leading directly to the bench. He arrived masked at 9 a.m. in a 4x4, escorted by a penitentiary unit.

The trial did not begin until 10 a.m. By then, the courtroom was packed with the defendant's family and close associates, numerous lawyers, armed penitentiary staff in uniform and civilian clothes, police officers, gendarmes, and curious onlookers. A director serving at the Presidency was also present.

General Ravalomanana, with a receding hairline, dressed in a suit, black loafers and wearing glasses, made no comment on the four assessors randomly selected by the presiding judge.

He had five defense witnesses. Only three were present: his head of security, his driver, and former National Police Director General Dany Marius Rakotozanany. General Andriatahina Jean Herbert Rakotomalala, commander of the National Gendarmerie at the time, and Colonel Jean Elysé Annissé Randrianarivelo, Senate Security Director, were absent.

Three charges weighed against the defendant: death threats; complicity in murder and voluntary injury through orders given to law enforcement to use violence against protesters in September and October 2025 in the capital; and acting knowingly and facilitating violence against protesters, including one who was brutally dragged on the ground in Anosibe, while others had their hair burned by gendarmes.

Reconciliation

Before the defendant spoke, his lawyer raised an exception: according to him, the death threat dated back to May 21, 2019, and was therefore time-barred. He requested the extinction of public action; the judge ultimately upheld it, disqualifying this charge despite lengthy debate.

General Ravalomanana stated he had no knowledge of this matter and only knew the civil party since this trial.

According to facts presented by the clerk, the defendant allegedly said: "You too, Walker, are in our sights," when he was state secretary in charge of the gendarmerie. On May 21, he had traveled to Brickaville with former President Andry Rajoelina to oversee the installation of Sirama's new partner. However, Jean Walker Andriakotomalala, former director of projects and assets at the sugar factory, and staff had organized a protest against this new partner. It was in this context that the general allegedly made the threat. Two company employees testified, though their accounts contained some contradictions.

Walker Andriakotomalala recounted that after this threat, he was suspended from his duties, prosecuted for forgery, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, then acquitted on appeal. He believes all this stemmed from the general's remarks. He ultimately decided not to maintain his complaint against the defendant. The two men even shook hands before the judge to mark their reconciliation.

The judge proceeded with the two charges related to Generation Z protests that occurred between September 25 and October 11, 2025. During this period, the general, in full interference, allegedly ordered gendarmes, police, and military to brutally suppress protesters.

Two magistrates, one woman and one man, represented the general prosecutor's office. The prosecutor general asked the defendant to explain the origin of his nickname "General Bomb."

"It was during the Transition, when a series of homemade bomb attacks struck the capital. The first explosion occurred at Leader Price, then another at Ambohibao, killing two people. Others followed at Ambodimita, at a gas station in Tsiazotafo, at Analamahitsy, at Masay, and in several neighborhoods. The perpetrator was captured and taken to Fiadanana, where law enforcement beat him. I passed by at that moment and questioned him in my office. At first, he refused to name the person who ordered it. I warned him I would hand him over to the military who had beaten him. Then he finally confessed and denounced the mastermind, based abroad. Thanks to this, I was able to control the bomb attack phenomenon, and that's why they call me..."