Six Kanak pro‑independence activists have lodged a complaint against four current or former French ministers, alleging that the officials orchestrated their arrests and transfer from New Caledonia to mainland French prisons for political motives during the territory’s 2024 unrest.
The complaint names Christian Tein, a prominent figure in New Caledonia’s pro‑independence movement, and targets former prime minister Gabriel Attal, incumbent Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, as well as Gérald Darmanin and Éric Dupond‑Moretti.
It was submitted to the petitions commission of France’s Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the sole tribunal empowered to prosecute government ministers for actions performed in their official capacity, according to an investigation by the French outlet Mediapart.
The commission must now determine whether to proceed with the case.
Case against the ministers
At the time of the arrests, Attal served as prime minister, while Darmanin, Dupond‑Moretti and Lecornu held the portfolios of interior, justice and armed forces, respectively.
The four are accused of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, aggravated abuse of authority and criminal conspiracy to facilitate those offences.
“We referred the matter to the CJR so that the full truth surrounding the June 2024 arrest of the Kanak leaders of the FLNKS can be established,” said lawyer François Saint‑Pierre, who filed the complaint together with eight other counsel, in remarks to AFP.
“If the allegations we raise are substantiated—and we possess evidence to support them—this constitutes a state matter that the judiciary must investigate, and the implicated ministers will have to answer for their conduct,” Saint‑Pierre added.
In June, Paris‑based investigating judges ordered the dismissal of charges against Tein and fellow Kanak activists from the CCAT (Field Action Coordination Cell), the group behind the 2024 mobilisation against proposals to relax New Caledonia’s electoral‑roll restrictions.
Prosecutors have appealed that dismissal.
2024 crisis meeting
Lecornu, Attal, Darmanin and Dupond‑Moretti participated in an inter‑ministerial crisis meeting at the Interior Ministry on 16 May 2024, four days after the riots erupted. The session was filmed by journalists accompanying Darmanin for a documentary.
“Two hundred arrests and not a single remand in custody—that remains a problem,” Darmanin remarked during the discussion.
“If there could be a few examples, that would be helpful,” Attal replied.
All CCAT leaders were apprehended on 19 June 2024, and eleven activists were formally placed under investigation on 22 June.
Seven were immediately flown to mainland France aboard military aircraft and detained in seven separate prisons.
“This operation was decided before any ruling by the investigating judges or the liberty‑and‑custody judge of the Nouméa court… for reasons that were purely political rather than judicial: to neutralise the Kanak pro‑independence leaders, especially Christian Tein,” the complainants allege.
(with newswires)