The man suspected of killing French Polynesian journalist Jean-Pascal Couraud, known as JPK, has won a case in France's highest court, which found that investigative magistrates had breached rules during his questioning in 2019.
Francis Stein and the journalist's partner Miri Tatarata were charged with murdering JPK - 22 years after he vanished.
Mr Stein also told the public broadcaster that he was detained and charged based on false witness accounts.
Photo: RNZI Walter Zweifel
An investigation was first opened in 2004 after a former spy claimed that JPK had been abducted and killed by the government's GIP militia, which allegedly dumped him in the sea between Moorea and Tahiti.
Murder charges against two members of the now disbanded GIP were dismissed six years ago, but kidnapping charges have been upheld.
His body has never been found.