Diana paparazzi face privacy trial

The trial will hang on a recently-established precedent in French law, under which the interior of a car is deemed private even if it is on a public road.

Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed lost his bid to have the group of photographers chasing the car tried for manslaughter, when France's highest court ruled in April they were too far away to have caused the accident.

Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul were killed in a high-speed crash on 31 August 1997, as their Mercedes was pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes through central Paris.

The three photographers - Jacques Langevin of Sygma agency, Christian Martinez of the Angeli agency and Fabrice Chassery, a freelancer - are accused of taking photos deemed unacceptable of the dead and dying in the wreckage of the crashed Mercedes.

They are also accused of causing an infringement of privacy a short time earlier by taking pictures of Diana and Dodi in the car as it left the Ritz hotel.

Both agencies told BBC News Online they had no comment to make on the news.

An action brought by French pop star Michel Sardou has established the principle under French law that the inside of a car should be regarded as just as private as the inside of a house.

Unpublished pictures

The photographers will only be tried in relation to pictures they took of Dodi Al Fayed, as Diana's relatives and the British royal family are not plaintiffs in the case, the sources said.

The trial follows a complaint for invasion of privacy filed by Mohamed Al Fayed back in 1997.

The charges are expected to trigger a bitter battle over press freedom, particularly in the case of Mr Langevin, who is reported to have arrived on the scene of the crash after it happened and was not part of the group pursuing the car which crashed.

Manslaughter charges against a total of nine photographers and a French press dispatch rider were dropped during the inquiry into the tragedy, as were charges of failing to assist at the scene of an accident.

The court ruled that the accident was caused by the car's excessive speed and the driver's drunken state.

The pictures taken after the crash in the Alma tunnel were seized by police and have never been published.

No photographer has ever been successfully prosecuted in France for taking an unpublished picture, and the courts will now have to decide whether the mere taking of photos amounts to a breach of privacy.