Madagascar cuts prison term for all prisoners

Madagascan President Marc Ravalomana has decided to grant all prisoners a jail term reduction of 4 months, Madagascan media reported on Thursday.

The President announced his decision in the city of Maramanga, 120 km east from the capital Antananarivo.

According to some political observers, the president's move is aimed at appeasing dissenters who had been condemned or arrested in the 2002 political crisis following the last national election.

But the prison term reduction far from satisfies the requests of political prisoners, who demand amnesty, the report said.

Ravalomanana took the presidency from Didier Ratsiraka in the December 2001 elections. Ratsiraka had ruled the former French colony since 1975 and refused to accept the result of the election. Ravalomanana was officially proclaimed president in May 2002.

Source: Xinhua