Domoina Ranabosoa temporarily released

On 10 March, 33-year old Domoina was sent to pre-trial detention in Madagascar’s capital city’s prison, Antanimora. As exposed in Amnesty International’s 2018 report ‘Punished for Being Poor: Excessive, Unjustified and Prolonged Pre-trial Detention in Madagascar’, conditions of detention in Madagascar are inhumane, because of an excessive and prolonged use of pre-trial detention, which has in turn resulted in severe overcrowding across the country. On 7 April, Domoina’s request for temporary release was approved and she was finally able to unite with her family. However, the charges against her still stand. 

The charges brought against Domoina are that of ‘corruption of minors under 21 years old’, as she is accused of having a (consensual) relationship with her 19-year old girlfriend, Fyh. In Madagascar, the criminal code in its Article 331 punishes with up to five years imprisonment ‘anyone who has committed an indecent or unnatural act with a minor of their own sex, less than 21 years old’. Fyh and Domoina had decided to move in together, a decision which did not go well with Fyh’s mother, leading her to sue Domoina under this provision. 

Because of the threat of covid-19, Domoina had been told that she could no longer receive visits from her lawyer, or relatives, and that her trial, initially scheduled for 10 April, has been postponed to an undetermined date. As exposed by Amnesty International’s previous research, the government of Madagascar abusively uses pre-trial detention, constraining detainees to live in unhygienic and overcrowded conditions, and with the new threat of covid-19, pre-trial detainees will have to wait for their trials for even longer periods, while risking falling sick.