New Caledonia’s CCAT leader Christian Téin speaks during a press conference held at Union Calédonienne headquarters in Nouméa. Photo: RRB
Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin pre-trial conditions have been further eased and he will be allowed to return to New Caledonia, a Paris court has ruled.
Téin, 57, and other pro-independence leaders were flown to mainland France following their arrest in Nouméa in June 2024.
They were allegedly suspected of playing a key role in the riots that broke out mid-May 2024 and were later indicted with charged all criminally-related.
Téin is the leader of a CCAT "field action coordinating cell" set-up by one of the main pro-independence parties in New Caledonia - the Union Calédonienne (UC).
Although jailed at the time in mainland France to serve a pre-trial term, he was designated, in absentia, leader of the main pro-independence umbrella, the FLNKS, during a Congress in August 2024.
During the same Congress, two other pillars of the FLNKS, the moderate pro-independence UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie) and PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party), distanced themselves and de facto split from the UC-dominated FLNKS.
The two parties have since kept away from FLNKS's political bureau meetings.
However, since January 2025 the case has been transferred from a panel of judges in Nouméa to another group of magistrates in Paris.
They ruled on 12 June that, while Téin and five other pro-independent militants should be released from custody, they were not allowed to return to New Caledonia or interfere with other persons associated with the same case.
But in a ruling delivered in Paris on 23 September, the new panel of judges ruled Téin was now allowed to return to New Caledonia.
The ruling was based on the fact that since he was no longer incarcerated, Téin had expressed himself publicly and politically, but had not incited or called for violent actions.
He still faces charges related to organised crime for events that took place during the New Caledonia riots starting from 13 May 2024, following a series of demonstrations and marches that later degenerated, resulting in 14 dead and over to €2 billion in material damages.
The marches were to protest against a plan from the French government of the time to modify the French Constitution to "unfreeze" the list of eligible voters at local provincial elections.
The indigenous pro-independence movement say these changes would effectively "dilute" the Kanak indigenous vote and gradually bring it closer to a minority.
The public prosecution is already believed to have lodged an appeal, which it was entitled to do before Friday, 3 October.
This means the lighter judiciary control conditions would not apply until the new process is exhausted and fresh ruling is delivered by a Court of Appeal.
The date for Téin's trial proper is not known as yet and until it takes place, he is still presumed innocent until proven guilty of the alleged charges brought against him.
Back in New Caledonia, the announcement of the latest Paris ruling has once again triggered a torrent of diverse reactions to Téin's possible return.
Union Calédonienne's vice-president Mickaël Forrest welcomed the latest ruling, saying this was "great news" that would therefore "make it possible for all our militants to see each other".
Téin still faces charges related to organised crime for events that took place during the New Caledonia riots starting from 13 May 2024, Photo: AFP / Delphine Mayeur
Outrage on the pro-France side
But on the pro-France side, most parties who oppose independence and support the notion that New Caledonia should remain part of France have widely reacted against the latest ruling.
The uproar includes indignant reactions from outspoken leader Nicolas Metzdorf and Sonia Backès, who insist that Téin's return to New Caledonia could cause more unrest.
"Sarkozy will be jailed for posing a risk to public order, but Téin will be brought back to New Caledonia", Backès wrote on social networks.
Metzdorf alluded to the "trauma" associated with the Kanak pro-independence leader.
Le Rassemblement-LR leader Virginie Ruffenach also reacted saying she wondered whether "the judges do realise to gravity of their ruling".
"We're opposed to this... it's like bringing back a pyromaniac to New Caledonia's field of ashes while we're trying to rebuild", she told local media.
Meanwhile, a "non-political" petition has been published online to express "firm opposition" to Téin's return to New Caledonia "in the current circumstances" because of the "risks involved" in terms of civil peace in a "fragile" social and economic context after the May 2024 riots.
In two days, it has collected close to nine thousand signatures.
The rift within FLNKS has also become apparent during recent negotiations on New Caledonia's political future, held in Bougival (West of Paris), which led to the signature, on 12 July 2025, of a text that posed a roadmap for the French territory's future status.
It mentions the creation of a "State of New Caledonia", a short-term transfer of powers from Paris, including in foreign affairs matters and the dual French-New Caledonian nationality.
But while UPM and PALIKA delegates signed the text with all the other political tendencies, the UC-dominated FLNKS said a few days after the signing that the Bougival deal was rejected "in block" because it did not meet the party's expectations in terms of full sovereignty.
Their negotiators' signatures were then deemed as invalid because, the party said, they did not have the mandate to sign.
In a letter to French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, and copied to French President Emmanuel Macron and Speakers of both Houses of Parliament, on Tuesday, the FLNKS reiterated that they had "formally withdrawn" their signatures from the Bougival deal and that therefore these signatures should not be "used abusively".
However, the implementation of the Bougival deal continued, while the French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls maintained his door remained open.
The next step is a Senate extraordinary sitting expected on 6 October 2025 to discuss a Bougival-related piece of legislation to be also endorsed later by the Lower house, the French National Assembly.
New Caledonia is also expecting the appointment of its next Minister for Overseas, who should take over Valls.
Following the vote of a defiance motion on 8 September, and the appointment of Lecornu (a former Minister for Overseas (2020-2022) one day later to replace ousted Prime Minister François Bayrou, a Cabinet remains to be appointed.
