Al Fayed Loses Legal Action Against French Investigators
Written by Joanne Leyland
Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Mohamed
Al Fayed has lost a legal bid in Europe as he continues his decade-long
fight for 'justice' following the death of his son, Dodi, and Diana,
Princess
of Wales.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has rejected a
complaint by Mr Fayed about the official French probe into
the Paris crash of August 1997.
The Harrods boss had accused the French investigators of not following up on several
leads which he believes are integral to unearthing 'the truth' of the
circumstances surrounding the Paris crash of August 31st 1997. This included the decision not to interview the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles as part of the investigation.
French investigators are in agreement with the official police inquiry
undertaken by former Metropolitan Police Chief Lord Stevens which
concluded that the crash which killed Diana, Dodi and Henri Paul was an
accident, caused in part by the drunken state of Mr Paul. Sections of
the paparazzi were also blamed, having chased the Mercedes carrying the
Princess and her companions into the Alma tunnel.
Rejecting Mr Fayed's complaints about the French investigation, the European Court explained its decision by saying: "Those points of disagreement between the applicant and
the investigating judges...did not suffice to show that there were shortcomings
in the investigation or any impediment preventing the circumstances of the
death of the applicant's son from being elucidated."
"While the applicant complained about certain aspects of the judicial
investigation, he availed himself of the opportunity to raise various issues,
and the refusals he met with did not, as such, call into question the
effectiveness of the investigations, as a whole, by the French
authorities."
