There have been several reports of environmental defenders protesting the illegal rosewood trade in Madagascar being intimidated and imprisoned. In 2017, Clovis Razafimalala, who heads an environmental advocacy group based near Masoala National Park in northeast Madagascar, was arrested and held for 10 months while awaiting trial. He has a record of lobbying the government to prosecute timber barons and to reopen a local customs office to make it harder for criminals to smuggle rosewood out of the country. He was eventually convicted of destruction of public property and arson, fined $1,800 USD, and sentenced to five years of prison. However, like many other environmental defenders, he was immediately released on parole. In correspondence with Mongabay, Razafimalala explained that releasing him with a conviction and an unserved prison sentence that can be called in at any moment was an effort to “shut him up”. Two years prior, Armand Marozafy, another member of the same group, was convicted of defamation and served five months in jail for identifying two alleged rosewood traffickers in a private email.