HENRI ROCHEFORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13357, 11 December 1906, Page 5

HENRI ROCHEFORT.

FINED £800 FOR DEFAMATION. By Telegraph.— Press Association.—Copyright. Paris, December 9. M. Henri Rochefort has been fined £800 on the charge of defaming Madame Syveton in connection with the death of her husband, who created a sensation at the latter part of 1904 by striking General Andre on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies.

The affair referred to occurred in November, 1904. A great sensation had been caused in France by the revelation of a system of espionage upon the officers of the army, to discover their religious tendencies. M. Rochefort took a leading part, through his paper, in making the revelations. The matter was raised in the Chamber of Deputies on November 4, and General Andre, then Minister for War, defended the practice. M. Syveton thereupon walked up to the Minister and struck him in the face twice, disfiguring him, and causing the blood to flow. A number of officers challenged M. Syveton, and he was arrested a few days later, when proceeding to a rendezvous to take part in a duel. Nothing more was heard •of him until it was announced that he had committed suicide in his own home. M. Rochefort alleged that lie had been murdered with the connivance of his wife, because he was an inconvenient political opponent. It was stated that the body apparently had been cleverly posed to give the impression of suicide. Madame Syveton said her husband had committed suicide after he discovered that she was aware he had squandered her fortune. M. Rochefort, of course, is the famous Communist. He was "President of the Commission of Barricades," during the siege of Paris, and took an active part with the Commune. He lias been several tfmes in prison, and escaped from New Caledonia in 1874.