By Sarah C. LaBelle
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

PAPE’ETE, French Polynesia – Investigators searched the offices of Jean-Dominique des Arcis and seized documents believed to be related to the 1997 disappearance of journalist Jean-Pascal Couraud.  Des Arcis used to work with Couraud, and recently gave conflicting reports of what happened around the time of the disappearance.

Couraud, former editor of Les Nouvelles de Tahiti (a Tahitian newspaper), disappeared in 1997, and authorities declared it a suicide at the time.  In October 2004, however, former spy Vetea Guilloux testified during France’s Clearstream scandal that Couraud was in fact killed by drowning during a horrendous interrogation by the Polynesian Intervention Group (GIP).  [GIP was a police unit under the command of then-president Gaston Flosse to monitor the government’s political opponents.]  Guilloux changed his testimony a few times, first saying that he was present at the interrogation, and later saying that he had only overheard two GIP colleagues, Tino Maraa and Tutu Manate, boasting about it.  He then retracted the murder claim altogether, only to reiterate during his appeal that Couraud had been murdered.

There have been rumours that Couraud was killed because he had information on then French president Jacques Chirac’s involvement in “questionable dealings” related to the Clearstream affair, according to the New Zealand Herald, while other rumours give a series of articles that portrayed Flosse in an unflattering light as the reason for Couraud’s disappearance.

In response to Guilloux’s testimony, Couraud’s family filed a murder complaint against unknown persons for Couraud’s death.  Couraud’s brother Phillipe told the New Zealand Herald that he does not believe his brother’s death was ordered by either Chirac or Flosse, but that he believes Jean-Pascal was accidentally killed during GIP questioning.

The probe was about to be closed this November because the first investigative judge did not find any evidence of murder.  Couraud’s family appealed this finding, and a new investigative judge will be appointed to continue the inquiry.  Phillipe Couraud said, “We really think things will change and we will get to the end of this.  In the file, what we have are a lot of declarations of people who were not friends but colleagues [of the alleged killers], who have heard people from the GIP telling the story of the assassination.  […]  Twelve people came to see us and said ‘hey, your brother has been killed by these people.’ “

Reporters Without Borders has been calling on the French government to get to the bottom of the case:

“Recent developments suggest the inquiry into [Couraud’s] presumed death can now move forward.  It is urgent, morally and legally, that all elements in this case are revealed.  The French authorities must not provide an argument for those who think French Polynesia is a place where shady deals are done or the law can be flouted.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International – Reporters Without Borders calls for Couraud case to be probed – 13 December 2007

Scoop (Reporters Without Borders) – France Urged To Act In Case Of Missing Journalist – 16 December 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Lawyer’s office searched in case of missing French Polynesian journalist – 20 December 2007

New Zealand Herald – Journalist’s death poses questions, 10 years on – 23 December 2007