F. Communication No. 347/1988, S.G. v. France {decision of 1 November 1991. adopted at the forty-third session) Submitted by: S.G. (name deleted) Alleged victim: The author State party; France Date of communicationi 12 December 1988 (initial submission) The Human Rights Committee, established under article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Meeting on 1 November 1991, Adopts the following: Decision on admissibility* 1. The author of the communication dated 12 December 1988 is S.G., a French citizen born in 1954 and a resident of Rennes, Bretagne. He claims to be a victim of violations by France of articles 2, 19, 25, 26 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Facts as submitted by the author 2.1 The author is an employee of the French Postal and Telecommunications Administration (PTT) in Rennes. He was arrested during the night of 7/8 August 1987, on charges of having defaced several road signs in the area. His action, he states, was part of a campaign led by the movement "Stourm ar Brezhoneg" (Fight for the Breton Language), whose aim is the posting of bilingual road signs, in Breton and French, throughout Brittany, 2.2 In December 1987, the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Rennes fined the author 5,000 French francs and sentenced him to four months of imprisonment (suspended). At the same time, he and two codefendants, Herve Barzhig a/ and G.B., b/ were sentenced to pay 53,000 French francs, with interest, for the damage caused. On 4 July 1988, the Court of Appeal of Rennes confirmed the judgement of the court of first instance. 2.3 The author contends that since his arrest, he has been subjected to daily harassment by his employer, The official in charge of the administrative investigation against him initially proposed to suspend him from his post for a period of sis: months. At the end of January 1989, however, after several intercessions made on the author's behalf by concerned citizens and the mayors of several municipalities in Bretagne, the disciplinary committee of PTT in Rennes suspended him from his post for eight days; this sanction was itself suspended. After consultations with his counsel, S.G. did not appeal the decision of the disciplinary committee. An individual opinion submitted by Mrs. Rosalyn Higgins is appended. -346-