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Diana photographers confirmed acquittal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-15 13:58
A French appeals court acquitted three photographers of charges they broke
privacy laws by photographing Diana, Princess of Wales the night of her fatal
accident in Paris in 1997.
Princess Diana. A French appeals court
acquitted three photographers of charges they broke privacy laws by
photographing Diana, Princess of Wales the night of her fatal accident in
Paris in 1997. [AFP] | The verdict upheld a
November 2003 judgement clearing the photographers -- Fabrice Chassery, Jacques
Langevin and Christian Martinez -- of the same charges.
"The judges showed courage," said Langevin, the only one of the three
defendants present at the hearing in the Paris appeals court.
Chassery's attorney Jean-Louis Pelletier called the verdict "very important"
for the defense of freedom of the press.
The judgement was a defeat for Mohamed Al-Fayed, the millionaire Egyptian
father of Diana's companion Dodi, and for the French state prosecutor's office,
both of which had argued that the vehicle constituted a private space protected
from the photographers' cameras.
Al-Fayed's lawyer Fabrice Dubest said he would take the case to the Cour de
Cassation, France's highest appeals court.
Diana, 36, and Dodi Fayed, 42, died on the night of August 31, 1997, shortly
after leaving the Ritz Hotel owned by Al-Fayed. Their chauffeur, Henri Paul, who
also died, was found in the official French inquest to have been responsible for
the crash because he was driving drunk at high speed.
The main investigation on the causes of the accident was closed in April
2002, putting an end to formal manslaughter inquiries brought against nine
photographers -- including the three judged Tuesday -- and a press motorcyclist.
But Al-Fayed, angry that Chassery, Langevin and Martinez had taken photos of
Diana and Dodi as they left the Ritz and then as the couple lay in the wreckage
of the crashed Mercedes, lodged the appeal on the privacy issue.
Langevin took two photos at the Ritz, Chassery took one at the hotel and one
after the accident, and Martinez snapped two photos after the crash in a tunnel
near the Seine.
The state prosecutor's office offered mild support for the appeal, but only
for the photos taken at the Ritz. At a June hearing in the appeal case, its
lawyers asked that the photographers be acquitted for the pictures taken at the
scene of the accident on grounds of press freedom.
Chassery, a freelance photographer at the time, Langevin, who worked for the
Sygma/Corbis agency, and Martinez of the Angeli agency were originally acquitted
when a lower court determined they did not photograph any intimate moments and
that the inside of a car did not constitute a private place.
On Tuesday, the court ruled that the three had not captured any gestures on
film at the Ritz that revealed aspects of Diana and Dodi's private life. It said
the couple's car could not be considered a private place after the crash.
An investigation is still under way in Paris on the validity of toxicology
tests conducted on Paul after the crash.
Paul's parents contend that the samples used to conclude that their son was
responsible for the deaths did not come from Paul's body.
Britain's top police official, John Stevens, is also conducting an inquiry to
determine whether Al-Fayed's claims that the crash was not an accident have any
basis in truth.
Al-Fayed has insisted the death was the work of British intelligence services
worried about Diana's relationship with his son.
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