French Polynesia court hears nuclear test victims' case

Transcript

The Court of Appeal in French Polynesia has heard the case of two former nuclear test workers who claim they experienced health problems after being exposed to radiation from French nuclear weapons testing at Mururoa.

The case has been subject to a number of appeals since the case was brought in 2009.

The head of the nuclear test veterans organisation Mururoa e tatou, Roland Oldham, says the process for the veterans has been very slow, and one the workers involved in the case has died.

He says he is confident the case will be found in favour of the victims.

ROLAND OLDHAM: It is denying that it is not the direct employee, it's denying that there is no proof of contamination. Because it lost in the first case he ordered expertise, but the expertise today is not saying clearly that there is no contamination, the cancer of these two workers is not due to cancer. The expertise is not saying that. Which means there is no scientific proof that the workers have not been contaminated. The court case today I think will happen in the favour of the workers because the Centre of Atomic Energy didn't bring up any new proof. It is the strategy of the French government as usual to drag on and drag on and drag on and drag on. Because in between as I say, one of the workers is dead. The other worker is still alive, but just.

MARY BAINES: Will anyone be able to appeal the case when it comes out in February, or is it final?

RO: It's not final, that's the thing about it. This is an appeal but there is still another court, where they can, even if CAE lose the case today, we will know that in February, it can still appeal. So that's where I say that we couldn't under the French system, under the law today, we could never get justice.

MB: So there's the potential for this to just go on and on?

RO: That's what I am trying to say. And all the former workers die and then the French government can say there's not much we can do. But one of our battles today is also to raise consciousness among the people of the injustice we are living in today. Also for the people to act, otherwise we will be under a system where we will always be a slave of this system, the colonial system.