Sarah Ferguson
A Turkish court has filed charges against Britain's
Duchess of York for secretly filming orphanages in the country.
The court accused Ferguson in absentia of going "against the
law in acquiring footage and violating privacy" of five
children. She faces a maximum term of 22 1/2 years in prison
if convicted. No trial date has been set.
Ferguson, the former wife of Britain's Prince Andrew, made an
undercover trip to Turkey in 2008 to examine orphanages for a
British television program. Secretly filmed images that were
broadcast appeared to show children tied to their beds or
left in cribs at an orphanage near the capital, Ankara.
It was not clear why it took more than three years to file
charges against Ferguson.
Britain's Home Office declined to say whether any requests
have been made to extradite Ferguson, saying its general
policy was not to comment on individual cases. The Foreign
Office said it expected "high legal and judicial standards to
be observed," though it added that it would be "premature and
inappropriate to speculate on possible outcomes at this
stage."
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