France to Ban Magazine For Publishing Pictures of Bastille Day Nice Terror Attack

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VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images

PARIS (AP) – France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor ordered an urgent court hearing Thursday to try to stop the sale of the latest edition of the picture magazine Paris Match showing gruesome photos of the terror attack in Nice a year ago that killed 86 people.

Victims’ organizations denounced the photos as the Riviera city of Nice prepares for the Bastille Day fete and commemoration of those killed July 14, 2016, when a 19-ton truck barreled into celebrating crowds.

Stephan Gicquel, who heads the leading victims’ association Fenvac, said on BFM-TV that a favorable ruling would be a “strong signal to show … there are limits,” adding that “we don’t need these shock pictures to understand the horror of terrorism.”

The magazine’s executive director, Olivier Royant, said he would defend “tooth and nail” what he said was “the right of citizens, first among them the victims, to know exactly what happened” on the day of the fatal attack.

He said the report, with photos, was a way for his publication “to pay homage to victims … so that society does not forget,” adding that the right of the media to inform is a foundation of democracy.

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