French Polynesia's assembly president, Jacqui Drollet, has been fined by a Papeete court for maligning two opposition women politicians in public.
Last May, Tarita Sinjoux and Madeleine Bremond lodged a formal complaint after Mr Drollet criticised them in front of the media in terms which suggested they had prostituted themselves.
Local radio says the court ordered him to pay 2,000 US dollars to each of the women and to pay for the publication of the court ruling in the local newspapers.
His offending comment came amid a row over the allocation of assembly office space, which prompted him to change office locks.
