DPA/Reuters/Paris

A French court has ordered the gossip magazine that published photographs of President Francois Hollande and Julie Gayet in January to pay the actress 15,000 euros ($20,000) in damages for violation of privacy, local radio reports said.
The court in Nanterre, west of Paris, also ordered Closer magazine to publish the ruling on its front cover, AFP news agency reported.
Gayet had sought 50,000 euros in damages from Closer, over the January 10 pictures that showed her and Hollande arriving separately at an apartment they allegedly used for trysts.
The magazine had argued that the pictures were in the public interest.
The seven-page photo spread published on January 10 showed the comings and goings outside a Parisian apartment rented by Gayet.
It included the night-time arrival and morning departure of Gayet and, separately, that of man wearing a black helmet and said to be Hollande.
Neither party has denied the affair, but Gayet filed a lawsuit alleging breach of privacy. Hollande chose not to sue.
Gayet’s lawyer Jean Ennochi said his client’s life had been “turned upside down” by the publication.
The disclosure by the magazine was followed by Hollande’s break-up with his partner of eight years, Valerie Trierweiler.
The scandal was an unwelcome distraction for Hollande, whose popularity ratings are at record lows, as he tries to stem rising unemployment and spur growth in the euro zone’s second-largest economy.
Gayet, a Socialist party supporter who has acted in French films including the 2013 comedy Quai d’Orsay, backed Hollande during the 2012 presidential race.