THE EUROPEAN COURT of Human Rights has found that Norway did not violate a celebrity couple’s right to a private life.

Lars Lillo-Stenberg and Andrine Sæther are well-known in the Scandanavian country – him as a singer, her as an actress. The pair married on 20 August 2005 in a ceremony on an islet in the Oslo fjord.

Although the ceremony was ‘private’, the public has permanent and unfettered access to the chosen fjord. A photographer gained access to the area and, with a long-lens camera, took images of the celebration.

Subsequently – but without the couple’s consent – a national, weekly magazine called Se og Hor published a two-page spread about the wedding. Accompanying the report were six photographs which showed the bride, her father and the bridesmaids arriving in a small rowing boat. They also depicted the bride approaching the groom and the newly-weds returning to the mainland on foot by crossing the lake on stepping stones.

The couple sued the magazine in the Norwegian courts and won compensation. However, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling on 2 September 2008. In their judgement, the presiding judges noted that Sæther and Lillo-Stenberg had married in a place which was accessible to the public and that the article was neither offensive or negative.

The ECtHR agreed and found yesterday that there had been no violation of Article 8 which outlines a citizen’s right to respect for private and family life because of the Supreme Court ruling.

A lawyer for the couple told local media that they were disappointed with the result.

We were curious about what the pair were famous for so here is Lars doing his thing:

(YouTube: putt50)

And Andrine…

(YouTube: kinofilme)