I've just been watching online footage from New Zealand TV station TVNZ. They claimed legal history this week, after footage was shown in France of two French agents pleading guilty to manslaughter in 1985, following the sinking of the first Rainbow Warrior.
"Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, who admitted killing Greenpeace photographer Fernando Periera, failed to stop TVNZ broadcasting their courtroom confessions and viewers have finally been shown the French spies admitting their guilt. The trial was covered by closed circuit cameras, but the visual record of the proceedings had remained under wraps as the pair fought for their guilty pleas never to be shown on television."
In France, this footage is part of an ongoing political scandal - Gérard Royal, brother of Ségolène Royal, who plans to run for the French presidency in 2007, was was identified as one of the Rainbow Warrior bombers.
Of course, rather than dragging out a 21-year old court case, we're more interested in today - and putting an end to the menace of nuclear weapons. Hopefull, the New Zealand Government will keep pushing for international nuclear disarmament - the very reason that the Rainbow Warrior was in Auckland in July 1985.
Alas, France is again about attempting modernise its nuclear arsenal, so that it can participate in the nuclear arms race. We must put a stop to the madness... Abolish nuclear weapons »
Read the article, watch the TV footage »
The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior »
Rainbow Warrior 20th Anniversary weblog »
The Times: Royal link to Greenpeace bombing as probe begins »