Cyrus sez,
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the
filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than
professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of
eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites
publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday.
The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision
approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police
officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George
Holliday on the night of March 3, 1991. The officers' acquittal at the
end on April 29, 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles.
If Holliday were to film a similar scene of violence in France today, he
could end up in prison as a result of the new law, said Pascal Cohet, a
spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi. And anyone
publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of
â~B¬75,000 (US$98,537), potentially a harsher sentence than that for
committing the violent act.
(Thanks, Cyrus!)
