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William and Kate win injunction in France to stop further spread of topless photos

Lawyers for Britain’s Prince Willam and his wife Catherine have obtained an injunction to stop re publication or re sale of the pictures showing Catherine topless.

Reuters/Jacky Naegelen
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The French magazine "Closer" has been ordered by the judge to hand over the photos within 24 hours.

The ruling at a court in Nanterre, just outside Paris, came just after midday and only affects the French publishers of the magazine.

The photos, were first published on Friday by the French magazine Closer, and later by a Dublin tabloid, the Daily Star and the Italian magazine Chi.

The couple's lawyer Aurelien Hamelle on Monday told the court in Nanterre that the images were from "a highly intimate moment during a scene of married life and have no place on the cover of a magazine".

Hamelle drew a parallel with the "fatal hunt" by paparazzi that led to the death of William's mother Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

He said they were not however requesting the withdrawal of current issues of Closer from news stands, saying "the damage is done".

No newspaper or magazine in Britain has announced plans to publish the
offending photographs.

Prosecutors in France also announced on Tuesday they had begun a preliminary criminal probe, following the complaint lodged by the royal couple on Monday.

They will have to decide whether to proceed with a full investigation of allegations that the taking of and publication of the pictures breached the couple's right to privacy under French law.

The prosecutor will also have to decide against whom any such criminal proceedings should be directed.

The royals' suit cites persons unknown but aides say they want proceedings against both the editor of Closer and the photographer or photographers who took the shots of
the couple at a southern French chateau earlier this month.

Hamelle drew a parallel with the "fatal hunt" by paparazzi that led to the death of William's mother Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

He said they were not however requesting the withdrawal of current issues of Closer from news stands, saying "the damage is done".

 

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