Photographers face Diana crash trial

A French judge has ordered three photographers to face trial over pictures they took of the 1997 car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. The trial, for invasion of privacy, follows a long campaign by Mohamed Al Fayed against decisions by the French courts to clear the photographers of responsibility for the crash.

They are alleged to have taken photographs of the dead and dying in the wreckage of the crashed Mercedes, as well as having caused an infringement of privacy earlier by taking pictures of Diana and Dodi in the car as it left the Ritz hotel. Judge Bruno Peries dismissed the case against five other photographers who took pictures at the scene. He named Jacques Langevin of the Sygma/Corbis agency, Christian Martinez of the Angelis agency and Eric Chassery. a freelance, as having taken pictures deemed unacceptable.

The trial is not likely to start until next year but is expected to trigger a bitter battle over press freedom, particularly in the case of M. Langevin, who arrived 15 minutes after the crash and was not part of the pursuing group.

No photograph of the last minutes of the couple has been published, and no photographer has been successfully prosecuted in France for taking a picture that was not published.

Diana, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, died in the high-speed crash in 1997.