Death of Lady Diana: the "king of the paparazzi" defends the photographers
Image hunters continue to be held responsible for the tragic accident of August 31, 1997. Photographer Daniel Angeli maintains the importance of these “images, unavoidable today”, captured by people “who have done their job” , he reports in 20 Minutes.
"One of the hardest things to come to terms with is knowing that those who chased her through the tunnel were also the ones who took pictures of her as she was dying in the back of the car." , lamented Prince Harry to the American channel NBC.
Since Lady Diana's tragic accident on August 31, 1997 in Paris, the paparazzi have been the target of much criticism. Accused of having privileged the cliché of the car crushed against a pillar of the Alma tunnel, instead of calling for help, the image hunters were held responsible for the death of the Princess of Wales. Because the latter, although seriously injured in the head, was still alive. His companion, Dodi Al-Fayed, the driver Henri Paul, died instantly. Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard, is the only survivor.
"Photographers have done their job, I will always defend these people," assured Daniel Angeli, nicknamed "the king of the paparazzi", to the 20 Minutes newspaper. “Christian Martinez, one of my agency's photographers, arrived several minutes after the accident. He called the emergency services. He took pictures, which were seized, but I saw them: they weren't bloody or unbearable. If it had happened in England, they would undoubtedly have gone out, with some precautions. Christian was indicted a few days later. I remember paying a deposit of 100,000 francs for him. ”
"We have always been singled out, but we have never done much harm"
The nine image hunters and the press biker were indicted for "involuntary homicides and injuries" and "failure to assist people in danger" in 1999, before being dismissed. "The investigations did not make it possible to formally establish any fault having had a certain link with the accident itself" and the photographers, estimated in an order the two investigating judges in charge of the investigation . The photographs were confiscated and never published.
“The cameramen also took stones in the street. The irony is that the public who cast shame on the profession are the customers of this kind of press. And then, we must remember that it was news. " reports Daniel Angeli to our colleagues. “We have always been singled out, but we have never done much harm, pleads Daniel Angeli. We made it possible to fix essential images today. ”.
"She was asking for photos"
Since her divorce from Prince Charles, Diana Spencer has used the press to expose, in pictures, her new life with Dody Al-Fayed. “I was the first to find out about their affair. We saw Lady Di parading on the dike in a leopard swimsuit (...) ”, says Angeli. “As we say in the jargon, 'she was giving', she was asking for these photos. I say this because she was usually difficult to follow because she was surrounded by bodyguards. At the end of August, at the Ritz, there were four or five photographers waiting for him. It's a situation she wanted and it ended badly. "
Although justice has condemned the paparazzi, Jacques Langevin (from the Sygma agency), Fabrice Chassery (from KCS Presse), and Christian Martinez (from Angeli), jointly paid a symbolic euro in damages to the father. by Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian-born billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed. The latter had filed a complaint for "violation of the privacy of the private life" of his son and Diana Spencer.
