France Sued Over Past Nuclear Tests


A mushroom cloud rises above the Mururoa atoll, French Polynesia, after the explosion of a French atomic bomb in 1971. (Photo: Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)France is facing a legal complaint filed Oct. 2 at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over its nuclear testing in French Polynesia during almost four decades, ending in 1996. Oscar Temaru, a former president of French Polynesia and now opposition figure, accused France of crimes against humanity for the almost 200 nuclear tests France conducted on the Pacific atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa. The action seeks “to hold all the living French presidents accountable,” he said. After long resisting such action, France in 2010 established a compensation program for military veterans and civilians whose cancer could be attributed to the nuclear tests, but few have received benefits under restrictive rules. France’s overseas minister, Annick Girardin, called the lawsuit an abuse of the international court for domestic political purposes. It is uncertain whether the ICC will agree to proceed with the case.—TERRY ATLAS