 A Paris appeals court is reopening the case against three photographersacquitted ofinvasion of privacy for taking pictures at the scene of the car crash that killed Princess Diana nearly seven years ago.
Both the prosecutor's office and Mohammed al Fayed, the father of Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed, appealed the November acquittal of the three men who pursued the car carrying Diana and her beau on Aug. 31, 1997. The appeals court takes up the case on June 22. Jacques Langevin, Christian Martinez, and Fabrice Chassery took photographs after the car slammed into a pillar inside a Paris traffic tunnel. The photographs were confiscated. They were acquitted Nov. 28 of invading the privacy of Dodi Fayed. Less than a month later, the prosecutor's office appealed the verdict. In acquitting the three photographers, the courtbrushed asidethe notion that the inside of a car is a private space. It said such an argument does nottake into account"the case of a person in a vehicle on a public road who can be seen by passers-by and motorists." The ruling established a legal precedent. The court also said the couple knew they would be photographed when leaving the Ritz Hotel, where they were staying. The trialstemmed froma criminal complaint by Dodi Fayed's father for the invasion of his son's privacy. Diana's relatives and the British royal family were notplaintiffsin the case, meaning that Diana's privacy was not an issue. A French court has ruled that the crash was an accident caused by drunk and speeding driver Henri Paul, who also died. However, another investigation has been opened to determine whether the deadly crash could have been the result of a plot. London Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens visited Paris in April to retrace Diana's final moments to determine if she may have been the victim of a criminal conspiracy. Stevens' investigation is being carried out at the direction of royal coroner Michael Burgess, who opened an inquest into Diana's death in January. The inquest came after persistent accusations from Mohammed al Fayed that Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, masterminded a conspiracy to kill Diana and Dodi Fayed because he disapproved of their relationship. Al Fayed has also claimed the circumstances surrounding the crash were covered up. (Agencies)
| 三名攝影記者因七年前在英國王妃戴安娜車禍遇難現場拍照被指控侵犯個人隱私，后來被宣告罪名不成立。如今巴黎上訴法院開始重新審理此案。 檢察院和戴安娜男友多迪·法耶茲的父親穆罕默德·法耶茲，對這三名攝影記者去年11月無罪釋放提出上訴，他們三人曾在1997年8月31日追逐戴安娜和其男友乘坐的轎車。上訴法院6月22日受理了本案。 雅克·朗之萬、克里斯蒂安·馬蒂內和法布里斯·沙塞里在戴安娜乘坐的汽車撞到巴黎交通隧道的一根柱子上后進行拍照。后來這些照片被沒收。這三名攝影記者在11月28日被宣告侵犯多迪·法耶茲的隱私權罪名不成立。之后不到一個月內，檢察院對法院的裁決提出上訴。 法院宣布三名攝影記者無罪釋放，對車內屬于私人空間這個概念予以否定。法院認為這種觀點沒有考慮到這種情況，"車輛在公路上行駛，坐在車內的人可以被路過的行人和駕車者看到"。 這種裁決確定了法律上的先例。 法院還說，戴安娜和她的男友在離開他們住過的利茲飯店時知道他們要被拍照。 這宗審訊源于多迪·法耶茲的父親提出的刑事申訴，他認為兒子的隱私權受到侵犯。戴安娜的親屬和英國王室都沒有提出訴訟，這意味著戴安娜的隱私權沒有爭議。 法國法院裁決車禍是由于司機亨利·保爾酒后開車以及超速駕駛造成的。亨利也死于那場車禍。 但是另一項調查已經開始了，以確定那場致命的車禍是否是有人預謀的。 倫敦警察專員約翰·斯蒂文思4月去了一趟巴黎，追蹤調查戴安娜生前的最后時刻，確定她是否可能是一個罪惡陰謀的犧牲品。 斯蒂文思的調查在皇家驗尸官邁克爾·伯吉斯的指導下進行，后者1月份提出對戴安娜的死因展開調查。 穆罕默德·法耶茲堅持指控，伊麗莎白二世的丈夫菲利普親王策劃了這次殺害戴安娜和多迪·法耶茲的陰謀，因為他不贊成這兩個人之間的來往。對戴安娜死因的調查由此而展開。 法耶茲還聲稱，車禍發生的詳情被人掩蓋了。 acquitted (of):赦免；釋放
brush aside:排除
take into account:考慮
stem from:源于
plaintiff:起訴人，原告 （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-06-28 01:00
