New Caledonia Native self-reliance leader moved to mainland France for pre-trial detention

By BARBARA SURK

Associated Press

GREAT, France-- New Caledonia's public district attorney says a pro-independence leader in the French Pacific area has been transferred to a jail facility in mainland France to wait for trial for his supposed role in a current lethal unrest. Prosecutor Yves Dupas said Christian Tein, an Indigenous Kanak leader of the pro-independence party referred to as The Field Action Coordination Unit, was flown to mainland France together with 6 other Kanak activists. Nine individuals died in the violence which started on May 13 in response to the French government's plans to change voting rights. Because of the upcoming French election, those plans have now been deserted.