Hearings for the high-profile trial, which was labeled a landmark one in French Polynesia, only lasted one day and plaintiffs are now have been told a ruling was to be delivered on June 25.
Pivotal issues raised by French barrister Jean-Paul Teissonnière during hearings this week were focused the recognition of a link between the exposure of the victims and their subsequent illnesses, mostly cancers.
During the one-day trial, heard testimonies of former nuclear workers who had been posted close to ground zero.
It heard claims that nuclear workers at the time were not informed about the risks of such experiments and were not given adequate protection.
“More than financial compensation, they are seeking recognition,” said Teissonnière, adding, on a positive note, that he was relieved to see that the trial was finally taking place.
Roland Oldham, President of the local “Moruroa e Tatou,” or Moruroa and Us, French Polynesian veterans associations, also said earlier cases brought to metropolitan French justice had resulted in compensations, but that the local social security system, because it was based on different rules, treated local former nuclear workers differently.
“I really hope the outcome of this trial will be fair. But it breaks my heart to hear that on the side of the defense, some are still maintaining the French nuclear tests were clean. This is in direct contradiction with what the French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said only a few weeks ago, in terms of admission.”
French Polynesia’s President Oscar Temaru had reservations about the outcome of the trial, saying this could end up as a “masquerade” and that the best option could be to bring the matter before an international tribunal.
Of the eight cases brought forward before the court, three veterans are still alive.
The other five are dead and are represented by their widows.
