News Photographer Has Conviction Overturned as Judge Calls Case ‘Disturbing’
A UK press photographer has spoken out after a conviction against him for assaulting a police officer was overturned just half an hour before his appeal was due to be heard.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it would not oppose Dimitris Legakis’ appeal after a judge reviewed the evidence against him and said that it appeared to him “the high point of the prosecution case” was that a police officer had “taken offense” at a professional photographer taking pictures.
Judge Geraint Walters called the case “disturbing”, adding that it “raised serious questions”. The judge changed the assault verdict to not guilty.
Legakis, who owns and operates the Athena Picture Agency, was found guilty by a lower court in April for making “insulting comments” to a fire officer while covering a major blaze that later turned out to be a murder.
According to the BBC, a prosecutor told Swansea Crown Court that the case was “no longer in the public interest.” Legakis has condemned the damage the case has done to his career.
“I’m forced to carry a body cam with me whenever I’m covering something by myself,” Legakis told reporters outside court.
“I shouldn’t be fearing doing my work and going out and about, and taking pictures, or even speaking my mind, as I did.”
It is the second time Legakis, a freelance photographer, has been arrested for what his lawyer calls “upsetting a police officer.”
“It is not a criminal offense to be insulting,” defense barrister James Hartson says. “That appears to be the test which is applied to Mr Legakis every time he appears at a scene of an incident to do his job.”
“There is a clear infringement of his human rights,” Hartson continues. “If police don’t agree with him, they lock him up and throw him in a van.”
Legakis says he called a fire officer a “coward” after the official allegedly “made handcuff gestures” while he was taking photos. The photographer says he “absolutely does not” regret his comments.
“It’s a freedom of human rights, of expression… if you disagree with someone or raise your voice… it’s not up to the police to police that and subsequently arrest you. I felt betrayed,” he explains.
Legakis says it has been “embarrassing” to tell clients about the court case. The Crown Prosecution Service and South Wales Fire and Rescue Service have not commented.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
