Poster depicting screaming woman tied to train tracks was not illegal, rules French court

Advertising campaign caused uproar months after French mother was tied to railway lines and murdered by husband

The posters were put up to promote a campaign to bring high-speed trains to Beziers

A court in France has ruled that adverts depicting a screaming woman tied to railway tracks were not illegal.

The posters sparked an uproar after they were put up in southern French town of Beziers last December to promote a campaign to bring high-speed TGV trains to area.

The image of the woman, about to be killed by a train, was accompanied by words: “With the TGV she would have suffered less!”

Critics demanded the far-right mayor of Beziers, Robert Menard, remove the posters, and launched legal action when he refused.

The advertising campaign came months after Emilie Hallouin, 34, was tied to TGV railway tracks by her husband in a murder-suicide in northern France.

“The despicable Robert Menard has killed her a second time,” the French senator Laurence Rossignol tweeted, calling for the removal of the posters.

The French equalities minister, Marlene Schiappa, described the adverts as “odious”.

A judge Montpellier this week said the posters had been designed to be “provocative” bud did not encourage violence against women or any other group.

Following the ruling, Mr Menard called the case “inquisition in petticoats”.

He had earlier dismissed objections to the adverts as “political correctness”, tweeting images of women tied to train lines in films, cartoons and music videos.

“The outrageous and paranoid reactions to our poster speak volumes about the moral order that plagues the country,” he said.

Beziers town hall has already removed the posters, saying its campaign had already had the intended impact. It has always insisted the adverts were not inspired by Ms Hallouin’s murder.