英国小报电话窃听丑闻涉案八人被起诉

British prosecutors accused a group of former top journalists at News Corp.'s now-closed News of the World tabloid including former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson of conspiring to hack the voice mail of more than 600 celebrities, sports stars, politicians and crime victims.

英国检方对新闻集团(News Corp.)旗下已关闭的小报《世界新闻报》(News of the World)前主编布鲁克斯(Rebekah Brooks)和库尔森(Andy Coulson)等多位高层报业人士提出指控，称他们曾密谋劫持600多位名人、体育明星、政界人士和罪案受害人的语音邮件。

The charges are the result of an 18-month police investigation into phone-hacking at the Sunday tabloid. The eight defendants seven former News of the World journalists and a private detective collectively face 19 charges of conspiracy to intercept communications from October 2000 to August 2006.

Associated Press本次电话窃听丑闻中有八人面临指控，前《世界新闻报》主编布鲁克斯是其中之一。警方对这份周日小报的电话窃听案进行了长达18个月的调查，上述指控是在调查结束后提出的。八位被告当中，有七位是曾供职《世界新闻报》的新闻工作者，一位是私家侦探，他们共面临19项指控，罪名是在2000年10月至2006年8月间密谋截获通讯内容。

The charges allege that the individuals conspired to intercept voice-mail messages tied to celebrities including Paul McCartney and Brad Pitt and others in the news, such as Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl. The revelation last summer that the abducted girl's voice mail had been hacked turned a long-simmering problem into an explosive scandal for News Corp., leading to a string of executive departures and the closing of the News of the World.

指控称，被告曾密谋截获与有关人物绑定的语音信箱的内容，其中既包括前披头士乐队成员保罗•麦卡特尼(Paul McCartney)和布拉德•皮特(Brad Pitt)等名人，也包括被谋杀的13岁女学生道勒(Milly Dowler)等见诸报端的受害者。去年夏天有人爆料称，被绑架的女孩道勒的语音信箱曾被窃听，这让一个发酵已久的问题瞬间变成了新闻集团的爆炸性丑闻，多位高管为此去职，《世界新闻报》也被关闭。

Ms. Brooks and Mr. Coulson are the most high-profile of the eight who have been charged. After running the News of the World from 2000 to 2002, Ms. Brooks went on to edit News Corp.'s tabloid the Sun and then headed up all of News Corp.'s British newspapers starting in 2009. She was a top lieutenant to News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch before resigning in July 2011.

布鲁克斯和库尔森是被起诉的八人当中最引人注目的两个。继2000年至2002年间执掌《世界新闻报》后，布鲁克斯成为了新闻集团旗下《太阳报》(Sun)的主编，之后又于2009年一路高升至新闻集团英国报业负责人。2011年7月辞职前，布鲁克斯曾是新闻集团董事长兼首席执行长默多克(Rupert Murdoch)的高级助理。

Mr. Coulson stepped down from the News of the World's editorship in 2007 after the phone-hacking problem first came into view, saying he was unaware of the activity. He later became the chief communications aide to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, a job he left in January 2011. But his association with Mr. Cameron has created a continuing political problem for the prime minister, who has been forced to admit the error of hiring a disgraced tabloid editor as a top aide.

2007年电话窃听案首次曝光后，库尔森便辞去了《世界新闻报》主编一职，并说自己对此毫不知情。后来，库尔森开始担任英国首相卡梅伦(David Cameron)的首席公关助理，这份工作他一直做到2011年1月。不过，他与卡梅伦的关系成了这位英国首相挥之不去的政治问题。卡梅伦曾在无奈之下被迫承认，雇用一名失信的小报主编做首席助理是个错误。

Ms. Brooks faces three phone-hacking charges; Mr. Coulson faces five. They are both charged with conspiring to hack the voice-mail messages of Milly Dowler.

布鲁克斯面临三项电话窃听指控，库尔森面临五项指控。他们均被指密谋窃听了道勒的语音信箱内容。

Also charged are former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editors Ian Edmondson, Greg Miskiw and James Weatherup and former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck. Prosecutors also charged Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator hired by the tabloid.

此外，《世界新闻报》前执行主编库特纳(Stuart Kuttner)、前新闻编辑埃德蒙森(Ian Edmondson)、米斯基(Greg Miskiw)和韦德勒普(James Weatherup)及前首席记者瑟尔贝克(Neville Thurlbeck)也被起诉。曾受聘于《世界新闻报》的私家侦探穆尔卡伊拉(Glenn Mulcaire)亦受到检方起诉。

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to intercept communications is two years in prison per charge or a fine of an uncapped amount. By filing conspiracy charges, prosecutors seek to prove that the parties involved agreed to intercept the communications of victims.

合谋截获通讯内容的最高量刑是每项指控被判入狱两年，或处上不封顶的罚款。检方发起这些合谋指控的目的是希望设法证明，涉案人员曾同意截获受害人的通讯内容。

Ms. Brooks denied conspiring to hack voice mails. 'I am not guilty of these charges,' she said in a statement Tuesday. 'I did not authorize, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.' She called the charge regarding the hacking of Milly Dowler's voice mail 'particularly upsetting' and 'untrue,' adding that she plans to defend herself vigorously.

布鲁克斯否认曾密谋窃听语音邮件。她在周二的声明里说，我没有犯罪，对于我担任主编期间发生的电话窃听事件，我既没有授权，也并不知情。布鲁克斯将那项窃听道勒语音邮件的指控形容为“非常令人不快”和“不属实”，还说她打算大力为自己辩护。

Ms. Brooks and five others were charged with perverting the course of justice in May. She has denied those charges, as well.

布鲁克斯与另外五人今年5月曾因妨碍司法公正被起诉。她对这些指控也矢口否认。

The charges announced Tuesday result from an investigation that London's Metropolitan Police reopened in January 2011. The reopening of the probe set off a chain of events that ultimately led News Corp. to close the 168-year-old News of the World.

2011年1月，伦敦大都会区警察局重新展开了一项调查，周二宣布的这些指控就是这次调查的结果。重启这项调查引发了一系列后续事件，最终导致新闻集团关闭了有168年历史的《世界新闻报》。