A French journalist has been charged for publishing photographs in a magazine of a new Renault car model after the automaker filed suit for industrial espionage, a judicial source told AFP.
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The news agency said that Bruno Thomas, 45, who works for the magazine Auto Plus, is accused of breach of trust, revealing manufacturing secrets and other charges in the case that dates back to last year.
Auto Plus ran a story and unpublished photos of a car model that was to be launched by Renault in three years, prompting the French carmaker to take legal action in July 2007.
Thomas was held for questioning on Tuesday as police searched the magazine’s offices in Paris, seizing computer hard discs and photos, the report said.
A Renault employee suspected of helping Thomas obtain the photos was charged on Friday, according to judicial sources.
“This entire affair appears to have been blown up,” said Auto Plus editor-in-chief Laurent Chiapello.
Thomas “simply was doing his job, that is finding new information to better inform the reader.”
The head of the French association of car industry writers, Denis Astangeau, said the arrest of the journalist and search of the magazine’s offices was tantamount to an “inquisition.”
“We would think such judicial practices would be bygone,” he said.
