Wikipedia

Hirohiti Tefaarere

Hirohiti Tefaarere (born 19 June 1954) is a French Polynesian anti-nuclear activist, trade unionist, politician and former Cabinet Minister who served as President of the Assembly of French Polynesia from 2004 to 2005. He was a member of Aia Api and the Union for Democracy. In 2019 he was elected president of anti-nuclear organisation Mururoa e Tatou.

Hirohiti Tefaarere
Minister of small enterprise, industry and mining
In office
19 September 2005 – 31 March 2006
PresidentOscar Temaru
President of the Assembly of French Polynesia
In office
16 November 2004 – 14 April 2005
Preceded byAntony Géros
Succeeded byAntony Géros
Assembly Member
for French Polynesia
Personal details
Born19 June 1954[1]
Political partyUnion for Democracy
Aia Api

Tefaarere worked for the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux, a police intelligence agency, before becoming general secretary of the A Tia I Mua union.[2] While still on the payroll of the French Interior Ministry he organised blockades in Papeete against the government of Gaston Flosse.[2][3] In 1995 he led further riots against the resumption of French nuclear testing. He was arrested along with 15 members of his union, jailed,[4][5] and tortured by French police.[1] He was later president of the O Oe To Oe Rima union.[6]

In late 2004, during the presidency of Oscar Temaru, he led a group of Union for Democracy MPs who challenged Temaru, delaying the budget[7] and boycotting the Assembly in an effort to gain ministerial positions.[8][9] Following the annulment of the 2004 election in the Windward isles in November 2004, Assembly President Antony Géros lost his seat, and Tefaarere was elected president of the Assembly.[10] Géros was re-elected in the resulting by-election, and most Union for Democracy MPs supported him as their candidate for Speaker.[11] Tefaarere ran against Géros, forcing the election into a second round of voting.[12] Géros was successful in the second round, ousting Tefaarere as Assembly President.[13] In September 2005 he was made Minister of small enterprise, industry and mining.[14] He resigned from the post in March 2006.[15] Temaru refused to acknowledge his resignation in an effort to keep his replacement, Lela Temauri, in the Assembly for an upcoming vote,[16] but the delay was found to be unreasonable by the courts, and Tefaarere re-entered the Assembly.[17]

He was re-elected in the 2008 election, and left the Aia Api party.[18] Following the formation of Gaston Flosse's government, he was the To Tatou Aia candidate for Assembly President, but lost to Temaru, 27 votes to 28.[19] In August 2008 he formed the A rohi party.[18] He was subsequently made president of SETIL, the company in charge of French Polynesia's airports.[20] He lost his seat in the 2013 election.[21]

In January 2009 he was summoned for questioning for abuse of public funds as part of the OPT scandal. He subsequently accused the court of being politicised and corrupted by Freemasons.[22] In January 2011 he was convicted of abuse of funds and fined US$22,000 and barred from office for two years.[23] The conviction was overturned on appeal in June 2011.[24] In August 2012 he was fined US$1000 for contempt of court for threatening a judge investigating his management of SETIL.[25] In July 2015 he was convicted of attempted embezzlement of public funds while managing SETIL, and sentenced to three years imprisonment, with two suspended, and fined XPF1,000,000.[26] The conviction was upheld on appeal in June 2016, but the sentence reduced to two years suspended.[27]

In October 2019 he was elected president of anti-nuclear organisation Mururoa e Tatou.[28][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Le Gayic et al. v. France: Communication No. 46/1996". Committee Against Torture. 9 May 1997. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "FRENCH POLYNESIA Losing the Battles". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 61, no. 8. 1 August 1991. p. 10. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Affrontements en Polynésie". Le Courrier Australien (in French). 10 August 1991. p. 22. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "TAHITI SORT DE SON CAUCHEMAR". Le Courrier Australien (in French). 10 August 1995. p. 25. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Thousands join N-bomb protest through Paris". Canberra Times. 13 September 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Hotel union workers in French Polynesia go on strike". RNZ. 10 November 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Walkout halts French Polynesia Assembly budget debate". RNZ. 1 September 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  8. ^ "French Polynesia government faces crisis". RNZ. 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Members of French Polynesian Assembly question allocation of ministries". RNZ. 24 September 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Ex-speaker in French Polynesia questions Paris crisis meeting". RNZ. 18 November 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  11. ^ "French Polynesia's ruling party split on speaker candidacy". RNZ. 14 April 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  12. ^ "French Polynesian assembly to hold second round of voting". RNZ. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  13. ^ "French Polynesian assembly elects Geros as speaker". RNZ. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  14. ^ "French Polynesian President creates ministerial post for cousin". RNZ. 19 September 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  15. ^ "French Polynesian minister Tefaarere resigns". RNZ. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  16. ^ "French court ruling has potential to bring down government in French Polynesia". RNZ. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  17. ^ "French court ruling changes numbers for French Polynesia vote on new assembly president". RNZ. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Tefaarere launches new party in French Polynesia". RNZ. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Oscar Temaru elected President of French Polynesia Assembly". RNZ. 1 March 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  20. ^ "French Polynesian government meets amid demand for reshuffle". RNZ. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  21. ^ "Assemblée de Polynésie : un paysage politique considérablement remanié" (in French). Tahiti Infos. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  22. ^ "French Polynesian assembly member attacks judiciary". RNZ. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  23. ^ "12 people sentenced in French Polynesia OPT case". RNZ. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  24. ^ "French Polynesia appeal court upholds Vernaudon's prison sentence". RNZ. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  25. ^ "Contempt of court fine for Tahiti's Tefaarere". RNZ. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  26. ^ "Affaire Sétil-aéroport : un an de prison pour Hiro Tefaarere" (in French). Tahiti Infos. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Hiro Tefaarere condamné en appel dans l'affaire de la Sétil-Aéroport" (in French). Tahiti Infos. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Nucléaire : Hirohiti Tefaarere, nouveau président de Moruroa e Tatou" (in French). TNTV News. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  29. ^ "French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans elect new leader". RNZ. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
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