A former secret service agent in France admitted his involvement in sinking "Rainbow Warrior," a Greenpeace ship 30-years-ago, saying the resultant death of a photographer has plagued his conscience since the international incident stained France's image.
In an interview with Television New Zealand, Jean-Luc Kister a French diver told the host that he and his team never intended to claim a life when they placed bombs aboard the 'Rainbow Warrior' in 1985 while the boat remained docked in Auckland.
On July 10, French spies detonated explosions which were attached to the hull of the Greenpeace protest ship at Marsden Wharf.
The boat was intending to travel to French Polynesia in a bid to create awareness on French nuclear testing. The explosion claimed the life of Fernando Pereira 35, a Portuguese photographer who drowned in the incident.
According to the New York Times, Kister who was a former agent for France's Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure, said it was he who attached the bombs to the ship's hull and directed his apology to the photographer's daughter.
The former agent added that the intention was to sink the boat and described the operation as a "big failure." The incident he says has haunted him ever since.
The French diver was quoted as saying that he was taking this opportunity to apologize and to express "my deepest regrets and [apologies] to Miss Marelle Pereira and her family for the accidental death of Fernando Pereira."
Captain of the Rainbow Warrior Peter Willcox told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report the apology from Kister is late, but sounded "sincere." Willcox said it was not his decision to forgive but felt justice had not been served.
While the French government has never apologized to the family of the photographer, the incident has been an issue of tension between New Zealand and France.
After the incident two French agents Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur who were arrested in New Zealand pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter. However the agents were repatriated to France within three years upsetting those in New Zealand, saying the government had given in to pressure from France.