French weekly fined over Hollande holiday photos

PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) A court fined a French tabloid for publishing photos of Francois Hollande and his new girlfriend, the first such pictures since the socialist leader split up with former presidential candidate Segolene Royal.

A court in Nanterre near Paris yesterday sentenced the weekly Closer to 15,000 euros (20,500 dollars) in fines but did not order it to be withdrawn from newsstands, as Hollande had demanded.

The couple, whose relationship fascinated many French people during this year's presidential campaign, announced their separation shortly after parliamentary elections in June and have not commented much on their private life since.

''One must demand transparency from public personalities but one must not meddle and interfere in their private lives,'' Hollande told RTL radio on Monday.

''I believe it's very important to have this division, not for me but overall political life,'' said Hollande, whom Closer featured sitting next to his new partner on the beach.

Closer said it had a right to publish the shots because they were taken on a public beach in Morocco.

''All we're doing is publish photos recounting a story that has been written about in several magazines, numerous books and Internet sites for months,'' Closer editor Laurence Pieau told Metro daily in an interview.

Both Royal and Hollande, who were together for some 30 years and have four children, frequently accused journalists of intruding on their private life. But they have also been known to use the media for their political careers.

Royal lost the presidential poll to conservative Nicolas Sarkozy in May, but she has since made clear she hopes to represent the party in the next poll in 2012. She has also signalled her interest in taking over the party leadership from Hollande next year.

Reuters RKM VP0430