Its 9pm here at the time of writing, this happened about two hours ago. Not an attack, just a court decision saying that footage of two French government agents pleading guility to manslaughter in connection with the Rainbow Warrior bombing can FINALLY be played on TV.
I'm aware that most of you probably won't give a rats arse either but its going to be big news over here when people read the paper tomorrow morning, and could be vaguely interesting to one or two of you, given all the talk about terrorism and WMDs thats going on these days.
Also, I've had the pleasure of talking with someone who was some two cells down from Alain Mafart and talked to the guy a bit. He was well-behaved, and apprently he NEVER talked about the bombing...
For a rundown of the incident that caused these charges, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of … ow_Warrior
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3757394a10,00.html
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Court sinks French agents' bids for privacy
07 August 2006
The Court of Appeal today torpedoed efforts by the Rainbow Warrior bombers to stop video footage of their guilty pleas screening on television.
In a unanimous decision, three Appeal Court judges today gave TVNZ permission to show the footage of Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur.
The clip showed the pair pleading guilty to the manslaughter of photographer Fernando Pereira in a High Court trial that followed the 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombing.
TVNZ lawyer Willie Akel said the Appeal Court decision was a victory for the public's right to know.
Lawyers for the French spies argued they never approved the closed circuit television footage being kept as a permanent record, and its screening would compromise their privacy.
But Justices Mark O'Regan, Grant Hammond and Terence Arnold said they were satisfied airing the footage was warranted.
"Use of visual images of Mr Marfart and Mrs Prieur pleading guilty would provide a powerful mechanism for conveying information about the events surrounding the Rainbow Warrior bombing," they said.
"The event holds significance both domestically and internationally, involving as it did covert criminal activity by the security forces of a friendly state.
"New generations of New Zealanders who did not live through the Rainbow Warrior incident will benefit by learning about it through not only the spoken and written word, but through the images of this footage."
Mr Akel said the Court had upheld the over-riding principle that New Zealand had an open justice system.
Public interest "in an event that was a defining moment in our history" had outweighed any expectations of privacy the agents may have had, he said.
"It's a victory for the public's right to know what has taken place and goes on in their courts."
TVNZ planned to show the footage this evening, head of news Bill Ralston said. It was working on getting the tape into a broadcast-quality format.
"I'm delighted. . . it's a good victory, we've always regarded it as a media freedom issue, and I think the public's the winner," he said.
"The footage is of historical interest, obviously.
"The fact that the French government, through Mafart and Prier, fought it so ferociously through the court system in New Zealand so far after the event shows that it's still a hot issue."
TVNZ spent the day trying to duplicate the 21-year-old footage into a new format.
Lawyers who acted for the French agents said they had no comment to make on the decision, which their clients had yet to learn of.
Greenpeace today welcomed the court's decision.
"The French agents have been running from New Zealand justice for 20 years. . ." said Greenpeace New Zealand campaign manager Cindy Baxter.
She said the French Government needed to be more transparent "instead of trying to cover up its dirty deeds."
This included releasing the health records of all the people who worked on the nuclear test sites in the Pacific for so many years.
During the hearing the agents' lawyer Gerard Curry argued open justice was satisfied in 1985.
The media had been allowed to fill a second courtroom in the High Court at Auckland and watch the trial on closed circuit television, he said.
The Rainbow Warrior was bombed in Auckland Harbour on July 11, 1985, killing Mr Pereira.
It was later revealed France's then-president Francois Mitterand personally authorised the attack on a ship that had led the Greenpeace campaign against French nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll.
The videotapes had remained in the High Court at Auckland.
The agents have since written books in which they described the experience of going up in court, and neither said it was humiliating or debasing.
The videotape was initially supposed to play on TVNZ during a documentary on the 20th anniversary of the bombing of last year.
I'm aware that most of you probably won't give a rats arse either but its going to be big news over here when people read the paper tomorrow morning, and could be vaguely interesting to one or two of you, given all the talk about terrorism and WMDs thats going on these days.
Also, I've had the pleasure of talking with someone who was some two cells down from Alain Mafart and talked to the guy a bit. He was well-behaved, and apprently he NEVER talked about the bombing...
For a rundown of the incident that caused these charges, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of … ow_Warrior
-----
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3757394a10,00.html
-----
Court sinks French agents' bids for privacy
07 August 2006
The Court of Appeal today torpedoed efforts by the Rainbow Warrior bombers to stop video footage of their guilty pleas screening on television.
In a unanimous decision, three Appeal Court judges today gave TVNZ permission to show the footage of Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur.
The clip showed the pair pleading guilty to the manslaughter of photographer Fernando Pereira in a High Court trial that followed the 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombing.
TVNZ lawyer Willie Akel said the Appeal Court decision was a victory for the public's right to know.
Lawyers for the French spies argued they never approved the closed circuit television footage being kept as a permanent record, and its screening would compromise their privacy.
But Justices Mark O'Regan, Grant Hammond and Terence Arnold said they were satisfied airing the footage was warranted.
"Use of visual images of Mr Marfart and Mrs Prieur pleading guilty would provide a powerful mechanism for conveying information about the events surrounding the Rainbow Warrior bombing," they said.
"The event holds significance both domestically and internationally, involving as it did covert criminal activity by the security forces of a friendly state.
"New generations of New Zealanders who did not live through the Rainbow Warrior incident will benefit by learning about it through not only the spoken and written word, but through the images of this footage."
Mr Akel said the Court had upheld the over-riding principle that New Zealand had an open justice system.
Public interest "in an event that was a defining moment in our history" had outweighed any expectations of privacy the agents may have had, he said.
"It's a victory for the public's right to know what has taken place and goes on in their courts."
TVNZ planned to show the footage this evening, head of news Bill Ralston said. It was working on getting the tape into a broadcast-quality format.
"I'm delighted. . . it's a good victory, we've always regarded it as a media freedom issue, and I think the public's the winner," he said.
"The footage is of historical interest, obviously.
"The fact that the French government, through Mafart and Prier, fought it so ferociously through the court system in New Zealand so far after the event shows that it's still a hot issue."
TVNZ spent the day trying to duplicate the 21-year-old footage into a new format.
Lawyers who acted for the French agents said they had no comment to make on the decision, which their clients had yet to learn of.
Greenpeace today welcomed the court's decision.
"The French agents have been running from New Zealand justice for 20 years. . ." said Greenpeace New Zealand campaign manager Cindy Baxter.
She said the French Government needed to be more transparent "instead of trying to cover up its dirty deeds."
This included releasing the health records of all the people who worked on the nuclear test sites in the Pacific for so many years.
During the hearing the agents' lawyer Gerard Curry argued open justice was satisfied in 1985.
The media had been allowed to fill a second courtroom in the High Court at Auckland and watch the trial on closed circuit television, he said.
The Rainbow Warrior was bombed in Auckland Harbour on July 11, 1985, killing Mr Pereira.
It was later revealed France's then-president Francois Mitterand personally authorised the attack on a ship that had led the Greenpeace campaign against French nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll.
The videotapes had remained in the High Court at Auckland.
The agents have since written books in which they described the experience of going up in court, and neither said it was humiliating or debasing.
The videotape was initially supposed to play on TVNZ during a documentary on the 20th anniversary of the bombing of last year.