Twenty people are accused of “statement of state security”, “Association of Croporing” and “plot to murder the president” Andry Rajoelina.
Le Monde with AFP
Malagasy Justice required, Wednesday, December 15, the perpetuity imprisonment for five of the twenty people accused of fomenting a coup against President Andry Rajoelina, including two French, while the defense insisted on the innocence of their customers.
Severe look under his glasses, draped in a thick red coat, the Advocate General, Arsène Rabe, listed the charges, overwhelming according to him, against the accused, also raising inconsistencies in their defense.
“If you have followed this trial from the beginning, you will have noticed the lies and parts that do not stick,” he said in a hoarse voice in a court of the capital.
The twenty defendants, including a former colonel of the French army Philippe François and the Franco-Malagasy Paul Rafanoharana, belonged to “a criminal organization” seeking to “commit an attack against President Rajoelina”, continued Mr. Rabe , aroused febrile murmurs in the ranks of the public.
And they helped set up the called Apollo 21 “project with emails, weapons and money, seized” during searches, he summarized, refuting point by point the arguments of Defense.
“Elimination and Neutralization”
A defense that attempted to establish that the links between the accused were not firmly established and that the presumption of innocence had not been respected, because of many leaks in the press on this case.
“Paul Rafanoharana recognizes having written the” project “budget and refutes signatures on the documents. It changes its mind all the time since the preliminary inquiry”, notably underscored the Prosecution.
The pleadings of a fifteen defense lawyers had yet to be heard in the evening and Thursday, an end of the trial.
The accused in this file are pursued for “statement of State Security”, “Association of Crop Perfectors” and “plot to murder the President”. They would have “scorched a plan for the elimination and neutralization of various Malagasy personalities including the head of state,” the Attorney General had advanced.
Since their arrest at the end of July, some accused have been placed under judicial control, others, including the two French, are in prison.