The publisher of the News of the World has been ordered by a French court to pay £32,000 in costs and damages after being found guilty of violating the privacy of former Formula One boss Max Mosley.
The Paris judge ordered News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the now defunct Sunday redtop, to pay a €10,000 (£8,585) fine, €7,000 in damages, and €15,000 in legal costs, over a 2008 article about Mosley taking part in an orgy it wrongly claimed was Nazi-themed.
But the court cleared the paper's former chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, of libelling Mosley, saying he could not be held personally responsible for distributing the 3,000 copies of the News of the World containing the offending article in France.
Mosley had already won £60,000 in damages over the News of the World article in a UK civil privacy action in London's high court. His French lawyers had demanded €100,000 in damages from each defendant.
After the ruling, Mosley's lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat, said he was pleased with the judgment and said the fine was "extremely high" for a French court considering the matter concerned a foreign paper. "It is a fair decision," he said. "It was very important for Mr Mosley to have this decision."
In an earlier hearing, Ouakrat said the News of the World and its former chief reporter had "devastated" Mosley's life by publishing an article suggesting he organised a Nazi-themed sado-masochistic orgy.
The front-page story, published in 2008, alleged Mosley had dressed as a Nazi guard and romped with prostitutes pretending to be concentration camp victims. A secret two-hour video made of the party was published on the newspaper's website and attracted millions of hits, but was subsequently removed.
Mosley, 71, is the former president of the FIA, the governing body of world motorsport, and the youngest son of Sir Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists and his wife Diana, one of the celebrated Mitford sisters.
Mosley launched a separate court battle in France because copies of the paper and the video were circulated across the Channel. The maximum punishment was one year in prison and a €45,000 fine.
Earlier, Ouakrat said that although only about 3,000 copies of the News of the World had been distributed and only about 1,500 sold, the damage to his client was considerable. "Every copy of the paper distributed was a thorn in the skin of Mr Mosley. Every one was a prejudice," he had told the court.
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