A defamation case brought against two French journalists in French Polynesia has been deferred and may now be heard on March the 17th.
French Polynesian journalist Jean-Pascal Couraud, who disappeared in 1997. Photo: AFP
Fabrice Lhomme and Gerard Davet, who have been working for Le Monde, were due in the criminal court in Papeete for allegedly defaming the territory's former president, Gaston Flosse.
However, their French-based lawyer was reportedly unable to make it to Tahiti.
The case centers on a book the two wrote in 2013 about Flosse and the 1997 disappearance of a Tahiti journalist, Jean Pascal Couraud.
Flosse's lawyer says the judiciary has never involved Flosse in the probe of the Couraud affair.
The president at the time of the disappearance, Flosse swore in the territorial assembly in 2004 that he had never ordered anybody's death
The head of Flosse's disbanded GIP militia, Leonard Puputauki, still faces a murder charge over the journalist's disappearance.
A Tahiti appeals court dropped related murder charges against two GIP employees, Tino Mara and Tutu Manate, although kidnapping charges stand.
