A Madagascar court has charged a former International Court of Justice judge with threatening state security over an alleged link to a mutiny earlier this month, his lawyer said Saturday.
"Raymond Ranjeva is out on bail and has been indicted on charges of complicity to incite unrest, civil war and acts of destabilisation," Eric Andrianahaga told AFP.
"He has been told to appear again next Friday (December 3), but the trial won't happen anytime soon," the lawyer said.
On October 12, Ranjeva appealed for a "real neutral transition", which he would head up, referring to an alternative to the country's transitional administration. Madagascar's current ruler Andry Rajoelina toppled president Marc Ravalomanana in March 2009 in an army-backed coup.
Investigators are now making a link between that declaration and the recent mutiny on the island.
Ranjeva is a former rector of Antananarivo university and was vice president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
On November 17, while the Indian Ocean island was voting in a constitutional referendum a group of some 20 officers announced they were "suspending government institutions" and said a military committee would run the country.
On November 20 the armed forces put an end to the mutiny by storming the barracks where they were holed up.
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