On January 29, 2025, Malagasy authorities arrested investigative journalist Fernand Cello while he was visiting his family in the capital, Antananarivo, having been in hiding since a warrant was issued in October 2023 over his Facebook post about President Andry Rajoelina.
On January 30, a judge charged Cello with spreading false news and undermining national security and placed him in pretrial detention in the capital’s Antanimora prison, Cello’s relatives told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.
Cello’s September 15, 2023, Facebook post inaccurately said that Rajoelina had left the country on a flight that included the High Constitutional Court president Florent Rakotoarisoa. Days earlier, the court had dismissed opposition appeals to void Rajoelina’s candidacy on the grounds of his dual French-Malagasy nationality. Rajoelina won a third term in November 2023
On September 16, 2023, Cello published a video “explaining and apologizing” for his mistake. In March 2024, he published another video apology and asked Rakotoarisoa to “end his persecution.
While in hiding, the journalist continued to work for the privately owned newspaper Basy Vava, a second relative said, and post daily news and comments on Facebook.
On July 8, 2025, Cello was sentenced to one year in prison for defamation, spreading false news, and undermining national security after the prison administration complained about his Facebook post alleging corruption in exams to join the prison service.
On July 15, 2025, Cello was sentenced to one year in prison for spreading false news, undermining national security, as well as the additional charge of defamation, in the case relating to his post about the president.
In late August 2025, Cello received a third sentence of one year in prison and a fine of 2 million ariary (US$455) after a complaint by the General Directorate of Customs for defamation and undermining national security over two Facebook videos from 2024 of customs officers counting money they had allegedly taken from a traveler as a fine for carrying excess foreign currency. The traveler filmed the incident and shared the footage with Cello.
CPJ’s February 2025 calls to the communication and justice ministries to request comment went unanswered.
On October 13, 2025, Cello was released, following a presidential decree.
In 2017, Cello was detained for four months, before receiving a two-year suspended sentence for cheque theft, in a case that he said was in retribution for his work at the local station Radio Jupiter, which broadcast allegations of an electricity firm’s financial irregularities and illegal sapphire mining. He was acquitted on appeal in 2019.