SECTOR 1 1.3 There are no laws or parts of laws restricting freedom of expression such as excessive official secrets, li-bel acts, legal requirements that restrict the entry into the journalistic profession or laws that unreasonably interfere with the functions of media. By general panel consensus, every single law regarding freedom of expression is limited by the dictum: “a freedom within limits”. These laws protect the freedom of expression, but at the same time, foresee sanctions once certain limits have been reached. In addition, institutions often impose their own laws and regulations. The 2009 law, which proscribes public demonstrations, considerably hampers freedom of expression. Outside of public demonstrations, ordinary citizens are reticent to register their opinions in the media. Furthermore, although laws that protect freedom of expression exist, their contravention rarely leads to prosecution, with the result that people rarely lay charges. Finally, certain penalties, notably those related to defamation of character, are excessive. A person found guilty of defamation on social networks could be fined between 2 million and 100 million Ariary (USD630 – USD31,449), under the provisions of Article 20 of the Law 2014-006 which deals with the fight against cybercrime. It should be noted that defamation, included in Article 83 of the Law 90-031, is considered a criminal offense as opposed to a civil matter in Madagascar. This law provides for: “defamation committed by one of the means as stipulated in 2 3 Article 74 and Article 80 against law courts, tribunals, the national armed forces of the State, constituted State bodies and public administration shall be punishable by between six months and up to two years of imprisonment and a fine 4 of between FMG30.000 and FMG1.000.000 , or one of the two sentences”. 2 3 4 Article 74: Shall be punished as accomplices to an act classified as criminal or a felony who, by speeches, shouts or threats uttered in public places or meetings, or by written or printed matter, drawings, engravings, paintings, emblems, images or any other medium of writing, speech whether sold or a distributed picture set sold or displayed in public places or meetings, or by posters or signs, graffiti presentations in public view, which would have directly incited the perpetrator or perpetrators to commit such action, if the provocation been was acted upon Article 80: “The offense committed by one of the means set forth in Article 74 shall be punished with imprisonment of one month to two years and a fine of 30,000 to 500,000 Malagasy francs. The same penalties shall apply to the sale, distribution or exhibition of drawings, engravings or paintings, emblems or obscene images exposed to public view for sale, distributed, or peddled be confiscated. The same will apply to all audio-visual material’. FMG = Malagasy Franc. The Malagasy franc is based, for counting purposes, on the Ariary, equivalent to 5FMG FMG 30,000 = $ 1.88; FMG 1 million = $ 62.91 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MADAGASCAR 2016 67