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Kevin Hester's reponse is below the article
New Zealand Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior bomber apologises
New Zealand Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior bomber apologises
The French intelligence
agent who led the deadly attack on the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow
Warrior in New Zealand 30 years ago has for the first time apologised
for his actions.
AFP
BBC,
6
September, 2015
Jean-Luc
Kister told the TVNZ station that the action "resulted in the
accidental death of an innocent man", photographer Fernando
Pereira.
Greenpeace
called for a Paris street to be named after Mr Pereira.
The
ship was mined to stop Greenpeace protests against French nuclear
tests.
The
Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985 was due to sail to Mururoa atoll in
French Polynesia where the tests were due to be conducted.
The
BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says it was one of the most notorious
acts of state sabotage.
Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira (file photo)
The
first of the two mines planted by Mr Kister punctured the hull of the
Rainbow Warrior
Portuguese
photographer Fernando Pereira drowned as a result of the mine blasts
The
mines planted by Mr Kister, a naval frogman, sank the vessel in
Auckland harbour, killing Mr Pereira.
Mr
Kister told TVNZ's Sunday programme that it was not the aim of his
team to kill anybody and that he wanted to say sorry to the family of
Pereira, to Greenpeace members on board the vessel and to the people
of New Zealand.
He
said the destruction of the vessel was "disproportionate"
and "an unfair, clandestine operation conducted in an allied,
friendly and peaceful country".
"We
had to obey orders, we were soldiers," he said.
Greenpeace
said in a statement (in French) that Mr Kister's apology "will
not bring Fernando back but proves once again that our colleague was
sacrificed in the name of a state interest that even one of the
state's servants is calling into question".
Mr
Kister was working as part of a 12-man team for France's DGSE spy
agency at the time of the attack.
France
has apologised and paid damages for the bombing and in 1996 stopped
the nuclear testing that initiated the Greenpeace protest.
Only
two agents have stood trial over the attack - Dominique Prieur and
Alain Mafart. They were arrested in New Zealand after the attack and
sentenced to 10 years in jail for manslaughter.
However,
a settlement meant that they were transferred to a base in French
Polynesia and were released within two years
For those that understand French
Watch
TV3 coverage HERE
Here is Kevin Hester's response
He
murdered our comrade Fernando Pereira and now decades later he seeks
forgiveness? I shall neither forgive nor forget. I followed Dominique
to the city Pau in France where she lived, I didn't know what I would
do, I was just grieving.
Here is a wee story of our anti-nuke protesting.
Here is a wee story of our anti-nuke protesting.
We set up a cordon of small yachts at North Head in the Hauraki Gulf and waited impatiently for the Invincible to come down the Rangitoto channel. When she approached we fanned out across the harbour and were amazed to see this aircraft carrier accelerate like a speed boat and out flank us, we followed her up the Harbour. She was maneuvered bow first towards the Devenport naval base but we knew that was not her destination and that she was destined for Princess Wharf.
We maneuvered our wee clinker between the wharf and the Carrier as she towered above us and attempted to prevent her docking. The Wharf police, who I had become familiar with!!! demanded that we move, we declined. The Police attempted to attach a tow line ...... but were unsuccessful Then a line with a 'hank' was attached to a midship mast stay and the police inflatable motored away. Our wee yacht heeled over, the hank slid to the top of the mast, the boat 'pooped' and in a moment we were capsized and in the water.
The boat sank to it's gunnels and we were now in the drink being rounded up by the boys in blue.
I was put on the bow of the Deodar and handcuffed with cable ties, whilst my guard wasn't looking I dived overboard and tried to dog paddle away!!!
Re-arrested, I was then cable tied to the life rail.
When we were brought to land I was escorted, dripping wet to a Paddy Wagon and it was there that I met Peter Wilcox the skipper of the Rainbow Warrior.
I was
charged with " Obstructing a Nuclear Ship in the Course of it's
Passage"! A few months later, I beat the wrap when I asked the
prosecutor where in our statute books was that law???? The prosecutor
asked to amend the charge and I declined.
Then the news came over the Radio that the Warrior had been bombed, I rushed into town and stood on the wharf in tears as we watched the Warrior, healing over, partially submerged and mortally wounded.
Our comrade Fernando was down below dead.
A year later after the two convicted terrorists from the French DGSE Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart were being released due to a French Government extortion threat to the NZ Government, I confronted the N.Z. Prime Minister David Lange in my parents lounge where he was a frequent visitor to savour my Mothers baking and demanded that he not release them. David explained that we had no choice and the French had threatened to destroy our export market to the E.C. in revenge, my first lesson in geo-politics.
The murderers went free and home to be feted as Heroes!!!!! Their leaders that had sent them faced no censor.
The French government had sent their military to commit a murderous act of terrorism in my country and got off scot free.
The Fascism we see rampaging around this planet today has always existed, we just failed to stop it. David Robie
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