Reduced Charges

The heavily guarded brick-and-stone courthouse in Auckland was jammed with journalists, lawyers and policemen. At 10:31 a.m., Judge Ronald Gilbert entered the chamber, followed moments later by Defendants Dominique Prieur, 36, and Alain Mafart, 35. For the two French intelligence agents, the long-awaited preliminary inquiry was finally under way. At issue: whether the pair would have to face trial for murder and arson in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of the Greenpeace environmental movement, in Auckland harbor last July 10.

Last September French officials belatedly admitted that unnamed secret-service frogmen had carried out the attack, in which a photographer died, to keep the ship from protesting French nuclear tests on the Pacific atoll of Mururoa. The incident had badly shaken the administration of Socialist President Franc,ois Mitterrand and forced the abrupt departures of two senior government officials. Last week's hearing was expected to reveal new details in the convoluted affair.

Then, in a surprise move, New Zealand Solicitor-General Paul Neazor declared that the prosecution had agreed to reduce the charges against the French agents to manslaughter since the defendants had acted only "in support of those who actually placed the explosives." Prieur and Mafart then coolly pronounced their guilty pleas. The entire proceeding lasted 32 minutes. The couple, who had entered New Zealand last June 22 on false Swiss passports, will remain in custody until their scheduled sentencing Nov. 22.

The unexpected outcome drew sharp protest from Greenpeace officials, who claimed that a deal had been struck between Paris and Wellington to suppress evidence gathered in the police investigation into the bombing. Greenpeace Chairman David McTaggart denounced the hearing as a "very low level" of justice. Said the conservative French daily Le Quotidien de Paris: "After smothering the repercussions of the Greenpeace affair, the Socialists are today benefiting from New Zealand justice."

Though Prime Minister David Lange's government denied that there was any deal, suspicions were reinforced by French officials. Defense Minister Paul Quiles confirmed in a TV interview that there had been behind-the-scenes "contacts" between the French and New Zealand governments. Said he: "Allow me to be discreet." That prompted Lange to snap, "It's so discreet that no one in Wellington knows about them." To be sure, questions remained, such as precisely who ordered the action and who carried it out, but the Greenpeace affair seemed to be finally sputtering out.