17 Jan 2008

Appeal in French Polynesia over Hoffer suspended jail sentence

6:47 pm on 17 January 2008

The man who proclaimed himself president of French Polynesia during the 2004 political crisis says he will appeal against his suspended six-month prison sentence for insulting a judge.

Rene Hoffer was sentenced by a Papeete court for insulting a judge in July last year.

The court also produced an expertise questioning Mr Hoffer's mental health.

Mr Hoffer says he will appeal the verdict and file the case with the French judicial authorities which follow the judges' careers.

"The parody will keep going. After I will go to the supreme court, the cour de cassation in Paris. For the judges in France there is something called Conseil Superieur de la Magistrature and I will mention it."

Rene Hoffer