French appeals court confirms acquittal of Diana photographers

PARIS: A French appeals court on Tuesday 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. 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. afp

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