A FRENCH magazine that published topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge could be shut down for FIVE YEARS if it is found guilty of breaching her privacy.
France’s Closer magazine has been placed under formal criminal investigation and its publisher Mondadori is being quizzed by prosecutors in Paris.
Photographer Valerie Suau is also being investigated and faces a year in jail for taking the long-lens snaps in the south of France last year.
The title sparked outrage by printing grainy images of Kate sunbathing on a private terrace while on holiday with husband Prince William in September.
Suau's employer, regional title La Provence, is also under investigation after it published photographs of the Duchess that did not show any nudity.
A spokesman for the prosecutor in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said: “The photographer and legal representatives of both companies have been questioned concerning the photographing of a person on private property and the criminal use of these images.
“The maximum penalty for this kind of offence is one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (£38,350) for individuals.
“For corporate bodies, the fine is 45,000 euros, cessation of business for five years and public notification of the decision.”
Probe ... headquarters of French Closer magazine in Paris
The development comes after the royal couple launched their own legal proceedings over the photos and a court in Paris banned Closer — which is separate from the UK’s Closer magazine — from publishing any further images.
Closer argued that the photos, taken while the couple holidayed at a chateau owned by the Queen’s nephew Viscount Linley, were shot from a public road.
William and Kate were furious at the intrusion into their privacy and made their feelings clear in a strongly worded statement was issued by St James’s Palace last year.
It said: “The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the Duke and Duchess for being so.”
Pictures were also published in Italian gossip magazine Chi — Closer’s sister magazine — and the Irish Daily Star, as the ruling did not cover publications outside France. No British newspapers printed them.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4902997/frances-closer-magazine-could-be-shut-down-for-topless-kate-photos.html#ixzz2RUuULEWQ
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