Diana: Court to hear appeal against photographers' acquittals

The Paris appeals court today reopens the case against three photographers cleared of invasion of privacy for taking pictures at the scene of the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales 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 the princess on August 31, 1997.

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 cleared on November 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 court brushed aside the notion that the inside of a car is a private space. It said such an argument does not take 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 trial stemmed from a criminal complaint by Dodi Fayed’s father for the invasion of his son’s privacy. Diana’s relatives and the royal family were not plaintiffs in 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.

But another investigation has been opened to test a number of theories behind the deadly crash.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner 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.

His investigation is being carried out at the direction of royal coroner Michael Burgess, who opened an inquest into Diana’s death in January.