18 Apr 2007

French Polynesian government lawyer gets suspended jail sentence

3:35 pm on 18 April 2007

A court in French Polynesia has given a former government lawyer a suspended five-month jail sentence for attempted blackmail of an alleged spy.

Annie Rousseau was also given a 10,000 US dollar fine for blackmailing the woman about her private affairs in a bid to win information about the GIP intervention force in 2004.

Rousseau was working for the then president, Oscar Temaru, amid differences with the GIP which was a militia-like body set up by his predecessor, Gaston Flosse.

The defence had said the court should keep in mind the context of the lawyer's action as the GIP's activities were not completely innocent.