New revelations on the death of a French Polynesian journalist

Transcript

New evidence appears to confirm that the French Polynesian journalist, Jean-Pascal Couraud, was killed by President Gaston Flosse's G-I-P militia in December 1997.

The case has intrigued Tahiti for a long time

Walter Zweifel has been following developments and spoke to Don Wiseman.

WALTER ZWEIFEL: The French newspaper, Le Monde, has obtained transcripts of secretly-recorded conversations among the suspects who already face charges of kidnapping. Last year, when the three suspects were first charged, their homes were bugged and now part of the recordings have been leaked to Le Monde which has been embroiled in disputes with the president Gaston Flosse. The recordings reveal that the G-I-P boss Rere Puputauki told Tino Mara that he, that is Mara, killed the journalist, who had been under surveillance by the president's intelligence unit.

DON WISEMAN: How long has this case been going on?

WALTER ZWEIFEL: An investigation for murder was launched in 2004 when a former spy made the explosive claim that Jean-Pascal Couraud had vanished because the G-I-P had kidnapped and drowned him off Tahiti. The former spy, Vetea Guilloux, was immediately arrested and jailed for malicious slander without establishing that his claims were false. The probe didn't go nowhere for years and it was a change of leadership in France, with Nicolas Sarkozy, that unblocked the channels.

DON WISEMAN: What could have been the motive for killing the journalist?

WALTER ZWEIFEL: Jean Pascal Couraud was committed to exposing corruption at a time when Gaston Flosse had extensive power in that in all fields of society. Couraud was no longer working for the local daily newspaper but for a leading opposition politician. What documents he had is not clear but there is suspicion it related to influential people. Gaston Flosse has said, without being asked, that he never ordered anybody's death. What has been established though is that Gaston Flosse had an illegal intelligence service which the French authorities tolerated and had a militia, the G-I-P, that was under his personal control. It is therefore no coincidence that his personal lawyer is also the man defending two of the alleged killers.