montecarlo
Nobility
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2003
- Messages
- 491
Human Rights Court Hears Princess' Paparazzi Dispute
Princess Caroline of Monaco has taken her fight against German tabloids to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. She's asking for Europe-wide regulations on the paparazzi.
Germany's claim to Monaco royality, Princess Caroline, has taken a decade-long privacy dispute with the German tabloids to the European court typically charged with handling major human rights issues.
The wife of Prince Ernst August of Hannover first filed suit against several German tabloids in 1993, after they published paparazzi photos of her riding, shopping, and sunbathing were published in several German celebrity magazines.
After Germany's Consitutional Court sidestepped the case in 1999, Caroline's lawyers took it to European Court for Human Rights, arguing that the photos are a violation of Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention, which give her the right to protection of her private and family life.
Caroline's lawyer Matthias Prinz said his client wants Europe-wide regulations such as those in France, where prominent people may only be photographed while carrying out public duties, unless otherwise agreed on.
Prinz said that as long as the German press is allowed to publish paparazzi-style photos taken abroad, laws such as those in France are meaningless.
"Paparazzi are manhunters, authorized by the German legal system," said Prinz at a hearing last Thursday.
German Law At Issue
The court normally hears cases of purportedly weightier issues, such as the recent trial of the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Now, it's being asked to decide on whether or not German law sufficiently protects the right to privacy.
Referring to the court's more typical case load, Prinz said his client was essentially being tortured by the paparazzi.
"There’s the torture of isolation, and there’s the torture that comes of having your every move followed by the paparazzi and never for a second being sure that you’re truly alone," Prinz said, flanked by some of the offending photos which he had blown up and mounted on boards as evidence for the court. His client is not attending the hearing, he said, because that would have only attracted more photographers.
Reader's Rights Are At Stake
But the German Association of Magazine Publishers argues that if Caroline gets her way, the press would be degraded to the function of mere court reporters.
Germany’s Constitutional Court largely agreed, dimissing her claim with the exception of the photographs in which she appeared with her children.
Prinz emphasised that Caroline’s children are constantly being followed, and that photographers frequently stake out their schools. His client, he said, has no official function in Monaco, she is simply "her father’s daughter," and therefore has the right to a private life.
Source: DW-World.De
Princess Caroline of Monaco has taken her fight against German tabloids to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. She's asking for Europe-wide regulations on the paparazzi.
Germany's claim to Monaco royality, Princess Caroline, has taken a decade-long privacy dispute with the German tabloids to the European court typically charged with handling major human rights issues.
The wife of Prince Ernst August of Hannover first filed suit against several German tabloids in 1993, after they published paparazzi photos of her riding, shopping, and sunbathing were published in several German celebrity magazines.
After Germany's Consitutional Court sidestepped the case in 1999, Caroline's lawyers took it to European Court for Human Rights, arguing that the photos are a violation of Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention, which give her the right to protection of her private and family life.
Caroline's lawyer Matthias Prinz said his client wants Europe-wide regulations such as those in France, where prominent people may only be photographed while carrying out public duties, unless otherwise agreed on.
Prinz said that as long as the German press is allowed to publish paparazzi-style photos taken abroad, laws such as those in France are meaningless.
"Paparazzi are manhunters, authorized by the German legal system," said Prinz at a hearing last Thursday.
German Law At Issue
The court normally hears cases of purportedly weightier issues, such as the recent trial of the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Now, it's being asked to decide on whether or not German law sufficiently protects the right to privacy.
Referring to the court's more typical case load, Prinz said his client was essentially being tortured by the paparazzi.
"There’s the torture of isolation, and there’s the torture that comes of having your every move followed by the paparazzi and never for a second being sure that you’re truly alone," Prinz said, flanked by some of the offending photos which he had blown up and mounted on boards as evidence for the court. His client is not attending the hearing, he said, because that would have only attracted more photographers.
Reader's Rights Are At Stake
But the German Association of Magazine Publishers argues that if Caroline gets her way, the press would be degraded to the function of mere court reporters.
Germany’s Constitutional Court largely agreed, dimissing her claim with the exception of the photographs in which she appeared with her children.
Prinz emphasised that Caroline’s children are constantly being followed, and that photographers frequently stake out their schools. His client, he said, has no official function in Monaco, she is simply "her father’s daughter," and therefore has the right to a private life.
Source: DW-World.De
..... and where is that ? 
