Paris judicial court examined on Thursday, January 15, a defamation complaint filed by Christian Tein, Kanak independentist leader, against Sonia Backès, a loyalist figure, who accused him of being 'the leader of the terrorists' after the 2024 riots. Tein appeared via videoconference from Nouméa, while Backès did not attend the hearing. This case comes ahead of an Élysée meeting on New Caledonia's future.
On January 15, 2026, the 17th chamber of the Paris judicial court, known as the 'tribunal des libertés,' heard the defamation complaint from Christian Tein, president of the Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste (FLNKS), against Sonia Backès. In September 2024, on RTL, the president of New Caledonia's Southern Province had stated that the FLNKS had elected 'the leader of the terrorists as president' and mentioned '35 trained terrorists' in Saint-Louis to 'kill gendarmes,' shortly after the violent May 2024 insurrection that caused 15 deaths and billions of euros in damages.
Tein, invited to the Élysée on January 16 with Backès to discuss the archipelago's future, appeared via videoconference around midnight in Nouméa. Backès, absent from the hearing, is defended by lawyer Rémi Lorrain, who argues it is legitimate political debate and free speech. 'The independentists tried to seize the democratic debate through violence' by opposing the 2024 law expanding the electoral body, he pleaded.
This case highlights the persistent divides in New Caledonia, where non-independentists express deep weariness over stalled talks. The FLNKS boycotted the Élysée meeting, announced on January 13, following the abandonment of the consultation on the Bougival agreement signed on July 12, 2025. Deep social inequalities – lack of RSA, low wages, high living costs, nickel crisis – worsen the situation, sidelined in institutional debates, according to a tribune by Marie-Agnès Calès, Gautier Coton, and Sarah Jeannes.
Despite New Caledonia's strategic importance in the Indo-Pacific, no parliamentary majority exists for constitutional reform, prolonging uncertainty for New Caledonians.
