Tag Archives: MURD

World

One of suspected killers of Saudi journalist Khashoggi arrested in France

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  • French police acted on Turkish arrest warrant
  • Saudi Embassy says person arrested “has nothing to do with case”
  • Police source says extradition hearing due on Wednesday

PARIS, Dec 7 (Reuters) – French police on Tuesday arrested a suspected member of the hit squad that killed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as the man was about to board a flight from Paris to Riyadh, French law enforcement sources said.

Khashoggi’s fiancee welcomed the detention of the suspect and said he should be prosecuted for his role in the 2018 killing. But the Saudi Embassy in Paris said the arrested person “has nothing to do with the case in question.”

“Therefore the Kingdom’s embassy expects his immediate release,” it said in a statement.

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A French police source and a judicial source named the man as Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi – the same name as a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard who is identified in U.S. and British sanctions lists, and a U.N.-commissioned report, as having been involved in Khashoggi’s killing.

The police who detained him were acting on a 2019 arrest warrant issued by Turkey, the country where Khashoggi was killed, according to the police source.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed. His remains have not been found.

A U.S. intelligence report released in Marchthis year said Prince Mohammed had approved the operation to kill or capture Khashoggi. The Saudi government has denied any involvement by the crown prince and rejected the report’s findings.

Last year, a Saudi court jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing, but none of the defendants was named. The trial was criticised by a U.N. official and human rights campaigners who said the masterminds of the murder remained free.

“This could be a major breakthrough in the quest for justice for Jamal Khashoggi,” former U.N. investigator Agnes Callamard said of the Paris detention.

In her 2019 report for the United Nations, Callamard named Al-Otaibi as being part of a Saudi team that killed Khashoggi and dismembered his body before flying back to Saudi Arabia.

Callamard, now head of rights group Amnesty International, said more confirmation was required to prove that the man held in France is the same person she identified in her report.

A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

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The police source said the detained man was being held at a border police detention facility at Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris, and would be taken to court in the centre of the city on Wednesday morning for a hearing on his extradition to Turkey.

Last weekend, French President EmmanuelMacron held face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia with Prince Mohammed, becoming the first major Western leader to visit the kingdom since Khashoggi’s murder.

‘MISTAKEN IDENTITY’

It was unclear how or when Al-Otaibi arrived in France.

The French Interior Ministry declined to comment. Turkish officials said they were waiting for confirmation of the detained man’s identity.

A Saudi official told Reuters: “Media reports suggesting that a person who was implicated in the crime against Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested in France are false.”

“This is a case of mistaken identity. Those convicted of the crime are currently serving their sentences in Saudi Arabia.”

Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter: “I welcome the arrest today of one of Jamal’s killers today in France.”

“France should try him for his crime, or extradite him to a country able and willing to genuinely investigate and prosecute him as well as the person who gave the order to murder Jamal,” Cengiz said.

The2019 report compiled by Callamard said Al-Otaibi was a member of a 15-man Saudi team involved in killing Khashoggiafter the journalist went to the consulate to obtain a document to allow him to marry his fiancee.

That report said Al-Otaibi was one of five members of the team who were not in the consulate itself – where the report said the killing took place – but in the consul general’s residence.

A report by Britain’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Al-Otaibi was “involved in the concealment of evidence at the Saudi General Consul’s residence following the killing.” A U.S. Treasury Departmentreport named Al-Otaibi as among those involved in Khashoggi’s killing.

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Reporting by Alain Acco and Tassilo Hummel; Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq, John Irish, Tangi Salaun, Ghaida Ghantous; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Christian Lowe; Editing by Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



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World

Sri Lankan manager killed by mob of workers at Pakistan factory

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LAHORE, Pakistan, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A mob of factory employees in eastern Pakistan tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday over apparent blasphemy in a “horrific” attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country.

A police official in the eastern town of Sialkot, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators believed the attackers had accused the manager of blasphemy for tearing down a poster with Islamic holy verses.

“The factory workers tortured the manager,” said provincial government spokesman Hassan Khawar. “A total of 50 people so far have been identified and arrested.”

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Khan condemned the killing and said he was personally overseeing the investigations and that those guilty would be punished.

“The horrific vigilante attack on a factory in Sialkot and the burning alive of Sri Lankan manager is a day of shame for Pakistan,” he said in a message on Twitter.

Television footage showed crowds of hundreds of people in the streets of Sialkot, in the heart of Pakistan’s most heavily industrialised region where much of the country’s export industry is based.

People gather after an attack on a factory in Sialkot, Pakistan December 3, 2021, in this screen grab taken from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

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Underlining the shock caused across the political establishment, Pakistan’s powerful military also issued a statement condemning the “cold blooded murder.”

“Such extra judicial vigilantism cannot be condoned at any cost,” the military’s press wing said, adding that the chief of the army staff had ordered full support to the civil administration to bring those responsible to justice.

A Punjab police spokesman said more than 100 arrests had been made including the prime suspect, who he said was seen in videos torturing the Sri Lankan manager and instigating the people against him.

Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy – a crime that can carry the death sentence – have been frequent in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Friday’s killing came only weeks after days of violent protests by the radical Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan movement, a Sunni Muslim group founded in 2015 to address actions it considers blasphemous to Islam.

Tahir Ashrafi, Khan’s adviser for Interfaith Harmony, condemned the killers in a recorded video statement shared on social media.

“It is a barbaric act and against Islam’s teaching,” he said.

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Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore
Writing by James Mackenzie
Editing by Peter Graff, Nick Macfie and Matthew Lewis

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US

Defense tries to have Jesse Jackson removed from court in trial for Ahmaud Arbery death

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Nov 15 (Reuters) – A lawyer for one of the three white men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, in their southern Georgia neighborhood failed in an attempt to have the judge remove civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson from the courtroom on Monday.

The same lawyer, Kevin Gough, made a similarly unsuccessful attempt last week to get the court to prevent any more “Black pastors” attending the trial after the Rev. Al Sharpton, another civil rights leader, was seen sitting with Arbery’s parents in the public gallery. read more

After the jury was sent out, Gough stood in the Glynn County Superior Court and said he objected to what he called “an icon in the civil rights movement” sitting between Arbery’s parents.

“How many pastors does the Arbery family have?” he said, referring to a similar objection he had made on Thursday to Sharpton’s visit. “The seats in the public gallery of a courtroom are not like courtside seats at a Lakers game.”

Gough said the presence of civil rights leaders might influence jurors hearing the high-profile case.

Cell phone footage made by Gough’s client, William “Roddie” Bryan, of the fatal shooting of Arbery after he was chased through Satilla Shores on a Sunday afternoon in February 2020 drew outrage when it was published more than two months later.

Prosecutors say Arbery was an avid jogger, and his killing was seen by some as another example of a Black man facing dangerous suspicion while doing some banal activity in public.

Jackson quietly listened to Gough, holding the hands of Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., and mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones. When Gough, who wore no COVID-19 mask, complained that Jackson’s mask was not covering his mouth and nose, Cooper-Jones reached and lifted Jackson’s mask back up.

Judge Timothy Walmsley was audibly exasperated as he rejected the motion by Gough, saying his ruling last week that he would not issue any blanket bans on who could enter a public courtroom would still stand. He said he was not aware that Jackson was in the room until Gough made his motion.

The judge said it was odd that Gough kept objecting to Black pastors showing up and that he was “done talking about it.”

“At this point, I’m not exactly sure what you’re doing,” the judge said. “It’s almost as if you’re just trying to keep continuing this for purposes other than just bringing it to the court’s attention and I find that objectionable.”

Jackson said outside the courthouse during a break in proceedings that he planned to attend all week, calling it “a constitutional right and a moral obligation.”

“They’re looking for diversion,” he said of the defense lawyers.

Sharpton has said he will be joined by more than 100 Black pastors at the courthouse on Thursday.

EMOTIONAL ‘OUTCRY’

Bryan, 52, is standing trial alongside father and son Gregory McMichael, 65, and Travis McMichael, 35, on charges of murder, assault and false imprisonment.

They have pleaded not guilty, saying they were justified in chasing Arbery in their pickup trucks because they thought he may have committed some sort of crime. They do not dispute that the younger McMichael killed Arbery with a shotgun, but say this was self defense after Arbery turned toward him and reached for the raised weapon.

After Jackson was permitted to remain in court, Gough said he wanted to move for a mistrial based on an emotional “outcry” by Arbery’s mother from the public gallery when a photograph of Arbery was shown to jurors on Monday. Several jurors looked over as she sobbed.

Lawyers for the McMichaels joined the motion.

The judge overruled it, reading from a legal precedent that said “emotions are neither unreasonable nor unexpected during murder trials.”

Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta, Editing by Ross Colvin, Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool

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World

Man dressed as Joker terrorises Tokyo train

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TOKYO, Oct 31 (Reuters) – A 24-year-old man dressed in Batman’s Joker costume attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line on Sunday evening, injuring about 10 people as many party-goers headed into the city centre for Halloween gatherings, media reported.

Police arrested the suspected attacker on the spot, media reported. A man in his 60s was unconscious and in critical condition after being stabbed, while witnesses also said the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire, according to media.

One video uploaded on Twitter and broadcast on NHK showed a steady stream of people running away from a train car where, seconds later, a small explosion caused a fire. Another video showed passengers rushing to squeeze out of the train’s windows and onto the platform where the train had made an emergency stop.

“I thought it was a Halloween stunt,” one witness told the Yomiuri newspaper, recalling the moment he saw other passengers running in a panic towards his train car. “Then, I saw a man walking this way, slowly waving a long knife.” He said there was blood on the knife.

The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku, the world’s busiest rail station, at around 8 p.m. (1100 GMT), media said.

Partial service on the Keio line remained suspended late on Sunday, when Japanese voters went to the polls in a lower house election. TV footage showed scores of firefighters, police and emergency vehicles outside the station where the train had stopped.

Reporting by Kantaro Komiya, Elaine Lies, Mari Saito; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim, Editing by David Dolan and Giles Elgood

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World

Shooting in Libya detention centre after migrant raids

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TRIPOLI, Oct 8 (Reuters) – At least six migrants were shot dead at a Tripoli detention centre on Friday, the head of the U.N. migration agency’s Libya mission said, as many reportedly escaped from the facility and others gathered in nearby streets.

Overcrowding triggered chaos at the Ghot Shaal centre, with people sleeping in the open and different security forces present, said Federico Soda, the Libya mission head for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

“Shooting started,” he said, adding that at least six people were killed.

Libyan security forces have cracked down on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers over the past week, detaining more than 5,000.

There are hundreds of thousands of migrants in Libya, some seeking to travel onwards to Europe and others coming to work in the major oil exporter.

They routinely face violence in a country that has had little peace for a decade, with many held in detention centres that United Nations refugee agency UNHCR says are crowded and unsanitary, and where Amnesty International on Friday said they face torture and sexual abuse.

Libya’s Government of National Unity was not immediately available for comment.

The country has been in crisis since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and much of it is controlled on the ground by local armed forces that operate independently of the government.

Numerous videos posted on social media on Friday, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed dozens of people pouring through a gap in a fence, and larger numbers marching through Tripoli streets.

Two residents said they had seen large numbers of migrants running through the streets in that area.

Soda said security forces in Tripoli had detained at least 900 migrants later on Friday, likely including many of those who had fled the detention centre.

A Reuters journalist saw dozens of migrants sitting on the floor surrounded by guards and said there was a very heavy security presence around the area and there had been sporadic sounds of shooting.

UNHCR said earlier on Friday it was increasingly alarmed about the situation for migrants and refugees in Libya after more than 5,000 were arrested in the recent crackdown.

“The raids, which also involved the demolition of many unfinished buildings and makeshift houses, have created widespread panic and fear among asylum seekers and refugees in the capital,” it said in a statement.

On Monday U.N. investigators said abuses against migrants and refugees in Libya were “on a widespread scale… with a high level of organisation and with the encouragement of the state… suggestive of crimes against humanity”.

Reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli, Angus McDowall in Tunis and Reuters Libya newsroom
Editing by Marguerita Choy and John Stonestreet

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World

Angry families of MH17 victims accuse Russia of lying

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Lawyers attend the judges’ inspection of the reconstruction of the MH17 wreckage, as part of the murder trial ahead of the beginning of a critical stage, in Reijen, Netherlands, May 26, 2021. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool

AMSTERDAM, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Relatives of the 298 victims of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 on Monday accused Russia of lying about its alleged role in the downing of the plane as they began testifying in the Dutch murder trial of four suspects.

International investigators concluded that the passenger plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine with a missile fired by pro-Russian rebels. Moscow denies all responsibility.

“They are lying, we know they are lying and they know that we know that they are lying,” Ria van der Steen, who lost her father and stepmother on the flight, told the court, saying she was citing the late Soviet dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The Dutch woman was the first of dozens of relatives who will be given an opportunity to speak or submit written statements over the coming three weeks.

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by what international investigators and prosecutors say was a Russian surface-to-air missile that originated from a Russian base just across the Ukrainian border. read more .

Van der Steen made the remarks about lying in Russian, explaining that she did so “for the benefit of those who are listening in on behalf of the Russian regime today.”

“I want it to be known that I know where the responsibility lies,” she said, adding that “lying and falsehoods are a familiar tactic in this game of cat and mouse through which we are aspiring to uncover the truth”.

Australian Vanessa Rizk also pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government as part of the “political nightmare” that led to the crash.

“I still cannot fathom that our family is caught up in a frustrating and deadly political crisis,” Rizk, who lost both her parents in the crash when she was 22, told the judges via videolink. She stressed her parents had no role in any of the politics that lead to their deaths.

Russia, which maintains that it has not funded or supported rebels fighting Ukrainian government troops, has refused to extradite the suspects.

Three Russians and a Ukrainian citizen, all suspected of having key roles in the separatist forces, are on trial for murder.

After years of collecting evidence, a team of international investigators concluded in May 2018 that the launcher used to fire the missile belonged to Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.

The fugitive suspects have been on trial for a year and a half. Only one sent lawyers to represent him so the case is not considered to be entirely tried in absentia under Dutch law.

Judges said on Monday they expected to issue a judgement in late 2022.

Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by William Maclean

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World

New Zealand to criminalise attack planning after mall stabbing

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Police respond to the scene of an attack carried out by a man shot dead by police after he injured multiple people at a shopping mall in Auckland, New Zealand, September 3, 2021. Stuff Limited/Ricky Wilson via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. AUSTRALIA OUT. NEW ZEALAND OUT

WELLINGTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed on Saturday to tighten counter-terrorism laws this month after a knife-wielding militant known to the authorities stabbed and wounded seven people in a supermarket.

Police shot dead the 32-year-old attacker, a Sri Lankan national who had been convicted and imprisoned for about three years before being released in July, moments after he launched his stabbing spree on Friday.

Ardern said earlier the man was inspired by the Islamic State militant group and was being monitored constantly but could not be kept in prison by law any longer.

“I am committing, that as soon as Parliament resumes, we will complete that work – that means working to pass the law as soon as possible, and no later than by the end of this month,” Ardern told a news conference.

The Counter Terror Legislation Bill criminalises planning and preparation that might lead to terror attack, closing what critics have said has been a loophole allowing plotters to stay free.

But Ardern said it would not be fair to assume that the tighter law would have made a difference in this case.

“This was a highly motivated individual who used a supermarket visit as a shield for an attack. That is an incredibly tough set of circumstances,” she said.

Ardern said the attacker came to the attention of the police in 2016 because of his support for a violent ideology inspired by Islamic State.

Police were following the man when he went into the Countdown supermarket in New Lynn mall in Auckland. They said they had thought he had gone in to do some shopping but he picked up a knife from a display and started stabbing people.

Police said they shot him within a minute of the start of the attack.

SEEKING INFAMY

Ardern said the man arrived in New Zealand in 2011 on a student visa and was not known to have held any extreme views.

He came to the attention of police in 2016 after he expressed sympathy on Facebook for militant attacks, violent war-related videos and comments advocating violent extremism.

In May 2017, he was arrested at Auckland’s airport where authorities believed he was travelling to Syria. He was charged after restricted publications and a hunting knife were discovered at his house but was released on bail.

In August 2018, he again bought a knife and was arrested and jailed. He was released into the community in July this year when surveillance began, Ardern said.

Ardern was briefed on the case in late July and again in late August and officials, including the commissioner of police, raised the possibility of expediting the amendment to the counter-terrorism legislation.

Ardern said she wanted to explain why the attacker had not been deported but could not because to do so would violate court suppression orders, which also prevented her from identifying, him, she said.

But she said had no intention of naming him anyway.

“No terrorist, whether alive or deceased, deserves their name to be shared for the infamy they were seeking,” she said.

New Zealand supermarket group Countdown said on Saturday it had removed knives and scissors from its shelves while it considers whether it would continue to sell them. read more

“We want all of our team to feel safe when they come to work,” said Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s general manager for safety said in a media statement.

Other supermarket chains had also removed sharp knives from their shelves, media reported.

Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsel

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World

Rwandan immigrant suspected of killing French priest who sheltered him

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PARIS, Aug 9 (Reuters) – A Rwandan immigrant in France already under investigation for setting the Nantes cathedral on fire last year has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a Roman Catholic priest, prosecutors said on Monday.

The 40-year-old man surrendered to police mid-morning and admitted to killing the head of the religious congregation where he was staying as he awaited trial for the cathedral fire.

La Roche-sur-Yon prosecutor Yannick Le Goater told reporters police had found the body of 60-year-old Olivier Maire, head of the Montfortain Missionary Order at Saint-Laurent-sur-Sevre, in a room to which the suspect had given them the key.

“At this stage of the investigation there seems to be no terrorist motive whatsoever,” Le Goater said.

Following the cathedral fire in July 2020, the suspect was held in detention until late May when he was then released under judicial supervision and placed in the abbey, the prosecutor said. After talking about wanting to leave, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital where he stayed until the end of July.

The killing will raise pressure on President Emmanuel Macron over his security and immigration policy, eight months out from a presidential election that will see his biggest challenge come from the far right.

“So in France you can be an illegal immigrant, torch Nantes cathedral, never be expelled and reoffend by murdering a priest. What’s happening in our country is unprecedented: the total failure of the state,” tweeted far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

France’s immigration authorities had handed the Rwandan national an expulsion order in 2019, but he remained in the country as he awaited trial.

Prosecutors allege that a year later he set fire to Nantes cathedral. The July 2020 blaze engulfed the inside of the 15th-century cathedral, destroying a grand organ, stained-glass windows and a painting.

Local worshippers described a priest much loved by his parishioners and known for his profound homilies.

“I’m in shock. I cannot believe it to be,” Sister Dorothee Harushinana, who attended a Mass the priest had led on Sunday, told Reuters by telephone. “He was someone close to the people. You could always call on him.”

Reporting by Caroline Pailliez, Elizabeth Pineau and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Writing by Richard Lough and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Angus MacSwan, Nick Macfie, Giles Elgood and Jonathan Oatis

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World

Exiled Belarus activist found hanged in Ukraine, police open murder case

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KYIV, Aug 3 (Reuters) – A Belarusian activist living in exile in Ukraine was found hanged in a park near his home in Kyiv early on Tuesday, and Ukrainian police said they had launched a murder case.

Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kyiv-based organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, had been reported missing by his partner on Monday after failing to return home from a run.

Police said they had launched a criminal case for suspected murder, including investigating whether killers tried to disguise the crime as suicide.

Shishov had felt under constant surveillance since he left Belarus last year after taking part in anti-government protests, his colleagues said in a statement. He had been warned about possible threats, including being kidnapped or killed.

“Belarusian citizen Vitaly Shishov, who disappeared yesterday in Kyiv, was found hanged today in one of Kyiv’s parks, not far from his place of residence,” the police statement said.

Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania have become havens for Belarusians during a crackdown by President Alexander Lukashenko following a disputed election last year.

Shishov led the Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU) group, which helps Belarusians find accommodation, jobs and legal advice, according to its website.

“We were also repeatedly warned by both local sources and our people in the Republic of Belarus about all kinds of provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation,” BDU said in a statement.

“Vitaly treated these warnings stoically and with humour.”

The organisation had said on Monday it was not able to contact Shishov. It said Shishov had left his residence at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) and was supposed to have returned an hour later.

The Belarusian authorities have characterised anti-government protesters as criminals or violent revolutionaries backed by the West, and described the actions of their own law enforcement agencies as appropriate and necessary.

BDU was set to organise a march in Kyiv on August 8 to mark a year since the start of mass protests against Lukashenko.

Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Ilya Zhegulev
Writing by Matthias Williams
Editing by Andrew Heavens, Peter Graff

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World

French citizen among six held over plan to kill Madagascar president -minister

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ANTANANARIVO, July 23 (Reuters) – A French citizen is among six people arrested on suspicion of involvement in a plot to kill Madagascar’s president, the Indian Ocean island’s public security minister said, and a second official said the president’s security had been tightened.

“One of the arrested people is French, two of them are bi-national – Malagasy and French. The three others are Malagasy,” Rodellys Fanomezantsoa Randrianarison told a news conference late on Thursday.

Madagascar’s attorney general said on Thursday police had arrested the six following what officials said was a months-long investigation. read more

Patrick Rajoelina, an adviser to President Andry Rajoelina, told Reuters on Friday that two of those arrested had previously worked in the French military.

The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had been informed of French nationals’ arrests and that they could obtain consular help if they asked for it.

Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina attends a meeting to discuss the 20th replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo

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A spokesman for the French armed forces told Reuters he had no comment.

Patrick Rajoelina added that unspecified measures had been taken to tighten the president’s security. “The evidence is tangible and we certainly do not take this lightly,” he said.

Madagascar has a history of political violence and instability. Andry Rajoelina, 44, was sworn in as president in 2019 after a hard-fought election and a constitutional court challenge from his rival.

Rajoelina first took power in the deeply impoverished former French colony of 26 million people in a March 2009 coup, removing Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control at the head of a transitional government until 2014.

In the 2019 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and said the vote was fraudulent.

Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary; additional reporting by Matthieu Protard in Paris; writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich

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