15 Aug 2014

Tahiti's Flosse launches two defamation cases

7:13 am on 15 August 2014

The French Polynesian president has lodged defamation complaints against two French journalists of the Le Monde newspaper and the opposition's Oscar Temaru.

In a statement, the presidency says Gaston Flosse has taken action against Fabrice Lhomme and Gerard Davet in Paris who, it says, are to appear in a criminal court to answer accusations of slander and lies.

The case centers on a book the two wrote last year about Flosse and the 1997 disappearance of a Tahiti journalist, Jean Pascal Couraud.

In a second complaint, Flosse has taken legal action against Mr Temaru for making allegedly defamatory comments in an interview with Radio New Zealand International about a planned casino in Tahiti.

Flosse's office says Mr Temaru's comments are of extreme seriousness.