PAPARAZZI TO STAND TRIAL FOR DIANA PHOTOS
Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:06 am
Paparazzi to Stand Trial for Diana Photos
By PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Three photographers will go on trial in Paris on Friday for shooting pictures at the scene of the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.
The trial, the latest judicial proceedings surrounding the high-speed crash, stemmed from a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy filed by Dodi Fayed's father, Egyptian-born billionaire Mohammed Al Fayed.
Celebrity photographers on motorcycles had been chasing Diana and Dodi Fayed after they left the Ritz Hotel in their car on Aug. 31, 1997. The couple and chauffeur Henri Paul were killed when the car crashed in a Paris tunnel.
The photographers were cleared last year of manslaughter charges in the crash and will now be tried only for pictures they took of Dodi Fayed.
Diana's relatives and the British royal family are not plaintiffs in the case. Photos taken at the site were confiscated, and none was ever published.
At the one-day hearing on Friday, the court is expected to set a later date to announce a verdict.
Jacques Langevin of the Sygma/Corbis agency, Christian Martinez of the Angelis agency and free-lancer Eric Chassery face one year of prison and $53,000 fines.
The judge dismissed the case against five other photographers who took pictures at the crash scene.
Manslaughter charges against the three photographers were dismissed in 2002 by France's highest court. An investigation into the crash concluded that Henri Paul had been drinking and was driving at high speed.
The new hearing in Paris comes as Britain's The Daily Mirror is publishing excerpts from "A Royal Duty," an upcoming memoir by Diana's former butler and confidant Paul Burrell.
The newspaper also published a letter, allegedly written by Diana 10 months before her death, saying someone was planning a car accident "in order to make the path clear for (Prince) Charles to marry."
After the letter was published, Mohammed Al Fayed urged a public inquiry, but that was rejected by the British government.
By PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Three photographers will go on trial in Paris on Friday for shooting pictures at the scene of the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.
The trial, the latest judicial proceedings surrounding the high-speed crash, stemmed from a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy filed by Dodi Fayed's father, Egyptian-born billionaire Mohammed Al Fayed.
Celebrity photographers on motorcycles had been chasing Diana and Dodi Fayed after they left the Ritz Hotel in their car on Aug. 31, 1997. The couple and chauffeur Henri Paul were killed when the car crashed in a Paris tunnel.
The photographers were cleared last year of manslaughter charges in the crash and will now be tried only for pictures they took of Dodi Fayed.
Diana's relatives and the British royal family are not plaintiffs in the case. Photos taken at the site were confiscated, and none was ever published.
At the one-day hearing on Friday, the court is expected to set a later date to announce a verdict.
Jacques Langevin of the Sygma/Corbis agency, Christian Martinez of the Angelis agency and free-lancer Eric Chassery face one year of prison and $53,000 fines.
The judge dismissed the case against five other photographers who took pictures at the crash scene.
Manslaughter charges against the three photographers were dismissed in 2002 by France's highest court. An investigation into the crash concluded that Henri Paul had been drinking and was driving at high speed.
The new hearing in Paris comes as Britain's The Daily Mirror is publishing excerpts from "A Royal Duty," an upcoming memoir by Diana's former butler and confidant Paul Burrell.
The newspaper also published a letter, allegedly written by Diana 10 months before her death, saying someone was planning a car accident "in order to make the path clear for (Prince) Charles to marry."
After the letter was published, Mohammed Al Fayed urged a public inquiry, but that was rejected by the British government.