At the time the press was talking about this, (end of September/beginning of October), Ségolène Royal made a statement that is reported here in the NZ Herald:

The Associated Press news agency today quoted Royal as saying: "I have a brother, who 20 years ago was a soldier, a frogman, for whom I have a lot of admiration. He was indeed involved in a detestable act. But he had received orders for that."

She added in an interview on the TF1 television channel: "Fortunately, the nuclear tests stopped. But clearly, and unfortunately, a person died."

Royal said she did not know of her brother's secret role at the time.

"The irony in this story is that I favoured Greenpeace's action against the nuclear tests," she said.