Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 12, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleA French court has released New Caledonia's pro-independence leader Christian Tein after last year's protests over voting rights changes.
PARIS (Reuters) -A French appeals court ordered New Caledonia pro-independence leader Christian Tein freed from prison on Thursday, affirming a lower court ruling after deadly riots in the French Pacific territory last year.
"The Paris Court of Appeals confirmed the order for Christian Tein's release and his placement under judicial supervision," a judicial source said, without providing more details.
In spring 2024, violent protests swept New Caledonia after French lawmakers approved a plan to grant voting rights in the territory to thousands more French citizen residents. President Emmanuel Macron declared a state of emergency.
Indigenous Kanaks feared the change would dilute their votes and make it harder for an independence referendum to pass.
In June 2024, police arrested Tein, who led an offshoot of Caledonian Union called the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), which organised protest barricades across the capital Noumea. He was extradited to France that same month.
France scrapped the voting overhaul in October 2024.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Makini Brice and Cynthia Osterman)
Christian Tein was arrested in June 2024 for leading protests against a voting rights overhaul in New Caledonia, which indigenous Kanaks feared would dilute their votes.
The French appeals court ordered Christian Tein's release from prison and placed him under judicial supervision, affirming a previous lower court ruling.
The protests were triggered by French lawmakers approving a plan to grant voting rights to thousands more French citizen residents in New Caledonia, which indigenous Kanaks opposed.
The French government scrapped the voting overhaul plan in October 2024 following the unrest in New Caledonia.
Christian Tein is a pro-independence leader in New Caledonia and heads an offshoot of the Caledonian Union known as the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT).
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
