Three photographers who took pictures of Britain's Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed in their car on the night of their fatal 1997 crash did not break French privacy laws, a Paris court ruled today.
Mr Christian Martinez of the Angeli agency, freelancer Mr Fabrice Chassery and Mr Jacques Langevin, who worked at the time for the Sygma agency, faced charges following a complaint by Dodi's father Mr Mohamed al Fayed.
Mr Martinez and Mr Chassery took photographs of the two after their Mercedes had crashed in a tunnel following a pursuit by paparazzi on motorbikes through Paris.
Mr Langevin took shots of them shortly before the crash as they left Paris's Ritz hotel.
The case hung on a precedent in French law under which the interior of a car is deemed private, even on a public road.
Under the country's strict privacy laws, the photographers could in theory have been jailed for a year and ordered to pay fines of €45,000. However the public prosecutor had requested only suspended prison sentences.
Similar charges against five other photographers had already been dropped.
The verdict follows fresh controversy in Britain following the revelation by Diana's former butler, Mr Paul Burrell, of a secret letter in which the princess predicted her own death. Mr Burrell said the princess had given him a letter written in October 1996 in which she said someone was planning to kill her in a car crash to allow her estranged husband Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to remarry.
The report led Mr Mohamed al Fayed, who has repeatedly claimed Diana and his son were murdered by the British secret services because their relationship embarrassed the royal household, to renew his call for a full public inquiry. The British government has rejected the demand.