French prosecutors demand magazine's withdrawal over Nice terror attack images
Relatives of the 86 victims of last year's Nice terror attack have been outraged at a magazine's publication of video surveillance images of the moment a jihadist's truck plowed into the crowd. Prosecutors are demanding the publication be withdrawn.
The Paris prosecutor on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of the latest edition of Paris Match which contains surveillance camera images from last year's Bastille Day attack that killed 86 people in Nice.
It asked the court "to order the withdrawal from sale" of the weekly news magazine, which came out Thursday, and "ban publication in all formats, notably digital", of the issue, which has angered the victims' families.
A judge is to rule on the request at 2pm French time.
The images in question were taken from video surveillance cameras along the Promenade des Anglais, where a Tunisian jihadist plowed his truck into the crowd who had been watching the annual July 14th fireworks show.
The images are believed to show the moments the truck struck the victims, although Paris Match insists no one can be identified.
An investigation is also underway over breach of confidentiality which will try to determine how Paris Match was able to get hold of the images.
Eric Morain, the lawyer for the victims of terror attacks said the images were "an attack on the dignity of both the victims and their families".
Victims associations have also denounced the publication they say is based solely on a desire to be "sensational" and to create "a morbid and voyeuristic atmosphere" on the anniversary of the attack.
The Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi described the images as "unbearable and abject".
But the magazine's editor Olivier Royant justified the publication in a statement.
He said staff "had wanted to pay homage to the victims, by re-visiting them one year later... so that society does not forget them."
Royant said many of the photos had already been published in the media as well as on TV. He said they images are taken from afar, without identifying anyone and without "attacking their dignity".
This year, instead of a fireworks display that drew some 30,000 revellers last year to the famous Promenade des Anglais there will be candles, a memory book and a solemn speech by President Emmanuel Macron.
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The Paris prosecutor on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of the latest edition of Paris Match which contains surveillance camera images from last year's Bastille Day attack that killed 86 people in Nice.
It asked the court "to order the withdrawal from sale" of the weekly news magazine, which came out Thursday, and "ban publication in all formats, notably digital", of the issue, which has angered the victims' families.
A judge is to rule on the request at 2pm French time.
The images in question were taken from video surveillance cameras along the Promenade des Anglais, where a Tunisian jihadist plowed his truck into the crowd who had been watching the annual July 14th fireworks show.
The images are believed to show the moments the truck struck the victims, although Paris Match insists no one can be identified.
An investigation is also underway over breach of confidentiality which will try to determine how Paris Match was able to get hold of the images.
Eric Morain, the lawyer for the victims of terror attacks said the images were "an attack on the dignity of both the victims and their families".
Victims associations have also denounced the publication they say is based solely on a desire to be "sensational" and to create "a morbid and voyeuristic atmosphere" on the anniversary of the attack.
The Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi described the images as "unbearable and abject".
But the magazine's editor Olivier Royant justified the publication in a statement.
He said staff "had wanted to pay homage to the victims, by re-visiting them one year later... so that society does not forget them."
Royant said many of the photos had already been published in the media as well as on TV. He said they images are taken from afar, without identifying anyone and without "attacking their dignity".
This year, instead of a fireworks display that drew some 30,000 revellers last year to the famous Promenade des Anglais there will be candles, a memory book and a solemn speech by President Emmanuel Macron.
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