Alain Mafart

Alain Mafart
Born	1951 (age 72–73)
Allegiance	France
Service/ branch	Navy
Rank	Colonel
Unit	DGSE
Other work	Photographer

Alain Mafart(born 1951) is aFrench militaryofficer best known for his part in thebombing of the Rainbow Warrior.

Mafart was aDGSEagent and deputy commander of theDGSETraining Centre inCorsica.He supported the sabotage team that travelled toNew Zealandand bombed and sank theGreenpeacevesselRainbow Warrior,drowning photographerFernando Pereira.

He was apprehended byNew Zealand police,pleaded guilty tomanslaughterand was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on 22 November 1985. Following heavy political pressure fromFranceand her allies and aUnited Nations-sponsored mediation between New Zealand and France in July 1986, Mafart was deported to the island ofHaoinFrench Polynesiato serve three years. In return, France apologised to New Zealand and paid New Zealand$6.5 million.

However, on 14 December 1987, Mafart was returned toParisafter complaining of stomach pains. After treatment he was not returned to the island and in 1988 enrolled on a two-year course at theÉcole de Guerre(War College) in Paris.

Mafart was promoted to colonel in December 1993. According toLe Monde,Mafart was then serving near Paris on a base housing several command staffs, including that of military intelligence.

His commanding officer during theRainbow Warrioraffair became an aide to Defence MinisterFrancois Léotard.

He wrote a book"Carnets secrets d'un nageur de combat: Du Rainbow Warrior aux glaces de l'Arctique"(Secret notebooks of a combat swimmer ": from the Rainbow Warrior to the Arctic ices) that concerned his role in the bombing.^{paragraphs 1-7}

Mafart subsequently become a photographer, and in 2016 was a finalist in theNatural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.In 2014, under the name Alain Mafart-Renodier, one of his photos was selected for inclusion in an international Greenpeace calendar. Upon belatedly realising the identity of the photographer,Greenpeace USAdestroyed 14,000 calendars it held in stock but could not prevent the majority from being sold to the public.