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25
May 2006
Angelina
Jolie Photographer Case
Dismissed
A
court in Namibia has
dismissed a case against
a photographer who
allegedly trespassed on
a roof to try to take a
picture of actress
Angelina
Jolie.
John
Liebenberg, 48, was
released with a warning
after three days in
custody.
The
judge said he could not
understand why Mr
Liebenberg, of South
Africa, was detained by
police for so
long.
Angelina
Jolie, whose baby is due
this month, has been
protected by heavy
security since arriving
in Africa with her
partner Brad
Pitt
six weeks
ago.
Mr
Liebenberg, a veteran
photo-journalist, was
taken into custody after
driving into the rear of
a police station in the
port town of Walvis
Bay.
He
had received a tip-off
that Angelina Jolie was
about to give birth at a
private hospital
there.
Police
claimed he had been
searching for a vantage
point to take a picture
of the building's
entrance.
"It
might be that you are a
foreigner and that you
were arrested for
trespassing, but why was
it necessary to keep you
in custody for the whole
weekend?" Walvis Bay
magistrate Sarel Jacobs
asked in court. I don't
understand that and I
think it was
unnecessary," he added
before dismissing
him.
The
prosecution had asked
for a fine of 1,000
Namibian dollars
(£80) or a year in
prison.
Mr
Liebenberg told Reuters
press agency after the
hearing that police may
have wanted to use his
case as a warning to
other photographers and
media.
"They
probably wanted to make
an example of me to the
other so-called nasty
paparazzi press. But we
have been very
respectful to the
couple," he
said.
Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie
- who have been dubbed
"Brangelina" by the
press - have sparked a
media frenzy during
their time in southern
Africa.
Bodyguards
and undercover Namibian
police officers have
shielded them from
journalists, erecting
green cloth screens
around the beach resort
where they are
staying.
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