This Article is From Sep 17, 2012

Royals' lawyer urges ban on resale of 'highly intimate' pics

Nanterre France: A lawyer for Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine urged a French court on Monday to ban the republication or resale of topless photos of the duchess, saying they were from a "highly intimate moment".

Speaking at a court hearing in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, lawyer Aurelien Hamelle said the photographs of Catherine sunbathing on the balcony of a French chateau had no place in the public domain.

The photographs, published in French gossip magazine Closer, were taken "in a highly intimate moment during a scene of married life and have no place on the cover of a magazine," Mr Hamelle told the court.

Drawing a parallel with the "fatal hunt" by paparazzi that led to the death of William's mother Princess Diana in 1997, Ms Hamelle urged the presiding judge to grant an injunction against all republishing of the photographs in print and in digital form and to ban their resale.

It was unclear when a decision would be made on an injunction, part of legal action Britain's royals are taking after the photos were published by Closer as well as Ireland's Daily Star and Italian magazine Chi.

The prosecutor's office in Nanterre said on Monday it had also received a criminal complaint against persons unknown from the royal couple.

The pair have said they want criminal charges for the alleged breach of French privacy law brought against both Closer and the photographer, whose identity the publication has not revealed.
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