Richard Ari'ihau Tuheiava (born 28 February 1974) is a

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

n lawyer and politician. He represented French Polynesia in the

Senate of France The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...

from 2008 to 2014, sitting with the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. He is now a Member of the

Assembly of French Polynesia The Assembly of French Polynesia (, ; Tahitian: ''Te apoʻoraʻa rahi o te fenua Māʻohi'') is the unicameral legislature of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic. It is located at Place Tarahoi in Papeete, Tahiti. It wa ...

and a member of Tavini Huiraatira.

Early life

Tuheiava was born in

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

and grew up in Raiatea and Moorea. He was educated at Lycée Paul-Gauguin before studying economics at the

University of French Polynesia The University of French Polynesia () is a French university located in Puna'auia, French Polynesia. History Created by a decree of May 29, 1987, the university was originally called French Pacific University and was split between two sites ...

, graduating in 1993. He moved to

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to study law, and in 1997 gained his legal degree. He returned to Tahiti in 1998, where he worked as a lawyer. He is a member of the Human Rights League, and served as president of the Junior Economic Chamber.

Political career

In March 2008 he was elected a municipal councilor for Arue on the Union For Democracy (UPLD) list. In July 2008 he joined Tavini Huiraatira. In August 2008 he was chosen as the UPLD's candidate in the

2008 French Senate election Indirect Senate elections were held for 114 of the 343 seats in the French Senate on 21 September 2008. With this election, the number of senators was increased from 331 to 343; Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin elected two senators each for t ...

, running on a joint opposition ticket with Tahoera'a Huiraatira leader Gaston Flosse. He was elected in the first round with 361 votes, becoming the youngest person elected to the French Senate. In the Senate he sat with the

. Shortly after being elected he criticised the French government's plans for a nuclear compensation law as being aimed at evading responsibility. He repeated the criticism in 2010, pointing out that the law excluded compensation for

contaminated land Contaminated land contains substances in or under the land that are definitively or potentially hazardous to health or the environment. These areas often have a long history of industrial production and industrial farming. Many sites may be affect ...

and failed to meet the needs and expectations of test victims. In May 2010 he complained to the French Prime Minister about the exclusion of a Tahitian delegation from a United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization meeting in

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. He later denounced the colonisation of French Polynesia by France and called the colonial era a dark period of humanity's history. In 2011 he called for France's nuclear compensation law to be amended to return the test sites of Moruroa and Fangataufa to French Polynesia. His bill to return the atolls was passed by the Senate in 2012, but had not yet been debated by the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

by the time it was meant to take effect in 2014. He contested the 2014 French Senate election for the UPLD, but lost to Vincent Dubois in the first round. Following the nullification of the 2014 Senate election he contested the resulting by-election, but was unsuccessful. He was elected to the

on the UPLD list at the 2013 French Polynesian legislative election. He stood as a Tavini candidate in French Polynesia's 1st constituency at the

2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...

, but was eliminated in the first round. He was re-elected to the Assembly as a Tavini candidate in the 2018 election.

Controversy

In November 2009 he was banned from practicing law for two years for taking money from clients without doing any work. The decision was upheld by the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

in 2012. In March 2012 he was charged with forgery over legal work he had done between 2006 and 2009. He denounced the charges as "a political move guided by Paris". The charges were dismissed in August 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuheiava, Richard 1974 births Living people People from Papeete University of French Polynesia alumni French Polynesian lawyers French senators of the Fifth Republic Socialist Party (France) politicians Senators of French Polynesia Members of the Assembly of French Polynesia Tavini Huiraatira politicians French lawyers