Madagascar ex-Senate chief sentenced to hard labour over deadly Gen Z protest crackdown

The crackdown was led by the gendarmerie, where Ravalomanana retained considerable influence at the time.He "directed violent actions to suppress the demonstrations", a state prosecutor said in December 2025.Ravalomanana was removed as Senate president in October, shortly after the protests, and was arrested at his home in December after failing to respond to a summons from the gendarmerie.He was later placed in pre-trial detention at the high-security Imerintsiatosika prison outside Antananarivo, where he has spent the past seven months.He is among several senior figures associated with Rajoelina's former government who have faced legal proceedings since the change of power. Ravalomanana is also facing a separate corruption investigation.A former national police chief who testified at the trial backed his account, saying Ravalomanana was not part of the operational chain of command and had issued no orders to police, gendarmes or soldiers deployed during the unrest.His lawyer questioned the evidence linking him directly to the violence."Is there confirmed written or verbal evidence... to accuse him?" he asked the court, arguing that prosecutors had failed to produce proof that security officers had received orders from his client.