A court in Madagascar has sentenced a man to surgical castration for defiling a six-year-old girl in 2024.
Being the first individual to receive this punishment, Didier Razafindralambo, the attorney general at the Court of Appeal, says the case stems from the defilement and attempted murder of the child in Imerintsiatosika, a town located about 30 kilometers west of the capital, Antananarivo.
“The person prosecuted in this case was sentenced by the court to life imprisonment with hard labour, accompanied by castration,” he said in a video statement released to the media by the Ministry of Justice.
This punishment was introduced in February 2024 as a method to deal with the “rape culture” in Madagascar following a surge in such cases being brought before the courts, according to the government.
“Today’s decision is a strong and significant response from the justice system, intended also to serve as a warning to anyone with similar malicious intentions,” Razafindralambo said.
According to the law’s wording, surgical castration, which is the permanent procedure of removing one’s genitals to stop the production of sex hormones, “will always be pronounced” for those guilty of defiling a child under the age of 10.
Cases of defilement against children between the ages of 10 and 13 will be punished by surgical or chemical castration (not a form of sterilization, as drugs are used to inhibit hormone production).
The defilement of children aged between 14 and 17 will be punished by chemical castration, and additionally, offenders will face harsher sentences of up to life imprisonment.
Surgical castration has been carried out on some sex offenders in the Czech Republic and Germany, with the consent of the defendant.
Louisiana, in 2024, became the first U.S. state to mandate the procedure for some sex crimes against minors, while Britain is considering making its use mandatory.
