Yachtsman sues France

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33814, 10 April 1975, Page 3

Yachtsman sues France

fA’Z Press Association) PARIS, April 9. I The Canadian yachtsman, David McTaggart,; today took the French •Government to court on 124 charges, including one of piracy, arising from his protests in the Pacific Ocean against ; French atmospheric nuclear tests. i The three judges hearing; I the case adjourned the sit-; |ting until May 13, and their; judgment is expected ini June. Mr McTaggart says the French Navy rammed his yacht Greenpeace 111, in 1972, and in 1973 boarded the yacht and assaulted him and his crew. On both occasions Greenpeace 111 had sailed into a danger zone around the South Pacific atoll of Mururoa to protest against French nuclear rests in the atmosphere. Mr McTaggart’s protest was part of an international campaign against atmospheric tests in which several governments, notably those of Australia and New Zea-! land, took part. The French Government’s! lawyer at- today’s hearing; did not. contest the court's!

.competence to fudge, the ; 1972 collision incident, in ! which Mr McTaggart • and I the French Navy both acI'cuse each other of deliberate i ramming. But rhe lawyer, Mr Jean Galot, said the 1973 incident, in which French marines boarded the Greenpeace 111 in international waters off Mururoa and seized the yacht, was a legitimate act under French law. and not a violation of international maritime procedure Mr McTaggart says that he and his crew were beaten up by armed marines, and his right eye was permanently damaged by a blow from a marine’s truncheon. This, he alleges, constituted an act of piracy — theoretically punishable by death. Mr McTaggart is seeking no damages, but wants to establish the liability of the French Government in both incidents. “Even ; f we lose, the Canadian Prime Minister (Mr Trudeau) has officially agreed to espouse the case against France,” Mr McTaggart said. “So the French Defence Ministry will then have to take on rhe Canadian Government.’ The World Court at The Hague rejected a case; brought against France by! Australia and New Zealand! over the Pacific atmospheric; tests when the French Gov-!

ernment announced that al future tests would be under ground.