New Caledonia’s CCAT leader Christian Téin speaks during a press conference held at Union Calédonienne headquarters in Nouméa. Photo: RRB
A Court of Appeal in Paris on Thursday ruled for the release of Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin from custody, almost one year after his arrest in New Caledonia.
His release conditions include regular judicial summons and residing at his partner's residence, in north-eastern France, which is also a region where he spent the past twelve months in jail, pending his trial.
In an earlier ruling on 3 June, the three magistrates, after interviewing Téin on 27 May, found there were insufficient grounds to keep him in custody.
Their initial ruling, which was upheld on Thursday after appeal, was that the Kanak leader should be released from jail, but that he should be kept under judicial supervision and prevented from returning to New Caledonia or interfering with persons related to the case.
This was appealed by the public prosecution.
Téin, 57, is the head of a Field Action Coordinating Cell (CCAT), a group created late 2023 by New Caledonia's largest and oldest pro-independence party Union Calédonienne.
Reacting to the latest ruling, one of Téin's defence lawyers said this was "a first victory, but the battle goes on".
The same ruling of "release under judicial control" also applied to four other militants who also spent the past twelve months in several prisons in mainland France.
Since his arrest in June 2024 and his transfer (with others) by plane from New Caledonia to mainland France, Téin has been jailed in Mulhouse.
In late August 2024, Téin, from his Mulhouse jail, was also nominated, in absentia, president of the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), of which the Union Calédonienne party is a dominant member.
In January 2025, the case, initially investigated out of Nouméa, was removed from the former investigating judges in Nouméa and transferred to a panel of three Paris judges.
On 30 May, another person part of the group that was transferred to France in June 2024 was allowed to return home to New Caledonia - Frédérique Muliava, a former Congress staffer.
Paris talks announced in coming weeks
French president Emmanuel Macron confirmed he would host fresh political talks to foster a comprehensive agreement between all tendencies (pro-independence and pro-France) of New Caledonia's political spectrum.
Photo: Screenshot Présidence de la République française
Speaking to Pacific leaders earlier this week in Nice, France, at a 'Pacific-France' summit on the margins of the UN Oceans conference, Macron said he would host the New Caledonian talks in Paris, in the "coming weeks".
Macron said this fresh roundtable was part of efforts to come up with "a new project".
He told Pacific leaders building a political solution for New Caledonia was still work in progress "with a lot of humility, together."
