A NEW documentary on the wrongful arrest in Paris in 1982 of three Irish nationals accused of terrorism will be broadcast on French television next week.
The programme will attempt to show that not everything has yet been revealed about the case of the "Irish of Vincennes" which caused severe embarrassment for the then president, Mr Francois Mitterrand, barely a year after he took office.
The case centres on the arrest on August 27th, 1982, of Mr Stephen King, Mr Michael Plunkett and Ms Mary Reid at a flat in Vincennes, a Paris suburb. French prosecutors claimed in the courts that the three were militants of the Irish National Liberation Army.
Two senior anti terrorist police officers were subsequently convicted of having planted evidence in the flat implicating the three in terrorist acts. One of the policemen was acquitted on appeal.
The authors of the documentary, to be screened next Monday, allege that those who appeared in court were scapegoats for a wider cover up operation.
The film makers' claim that the cover up behind the arrests was a complex affair, in which various levels of the judiciary conspired in "a cover up of evidence by judicial officials".
In particular, journalists Pierre Pean and Christopher Nick cite allegations against Mr Paul Barril, then head of the GIGN elite commando squad which carried out the raid on the flat.
Mr King, Mr Plunkett and Ms Reid spent nine months in prison before being released in May 1983. Legal action taken by Mr Plunkett and Ms Reid is still pending. Mr King was not involved in the action.
Jean Michel Beau, a former gendarme official, was given a one year suspended sentence for tampering with evidence, while Christian Prouteau, once Mitterrand's top security adviser, was acquitted on appeal.
The documentary, which the film makers say has been rigorously checked by lawyers, will be broadcast on the state run France 2 channel next Monday evening.