Chaser team charged over Vatican stunt
THE Chaser has found itself in hot water again after allegedly flying a blimp into protected airspace above the Vatican.
Australia's resident ambassador to the Vatican Tim Fischer said charges had been laid over the breach of the no-fly zone above the 44-hectare city state on April 28.
But The Chaser's executive producer Julian Morrow said he and his colleague Craig Reucassel launched an unmanned helium-filled blimp in Rome's St Peter's Square, not directly over the Vatican.
He said the pair was detained and questioned for about eight hours by Italian police.
"I gather Tim said that charges have been laid," he told ABC Radio today.
"My Italian's not very good, I've got a lot of documents here.
"I'm not sure whether charges have been laid yet but we certainly did spend a fair bit of time chewing the fat with the Italian constabulary."
The Chaser was filming for a planned new series, which Morrow said would start on May 27.
He said they knew where they were flying the blimp, but conceded it was hard to handle and may have needed L plates.
"I don't know that I can go into what was or wasn't written on the side of it yet. That'll all be revealed in due course no doubt," he said.
Mr Fischer warned against anyone carrying out a prank around the Vatican, due to the tight security.
He said strict laws prevented the release of much detail about the incident, which he described as serious.
"What happened was they breached the no-fly zone allegedly, and charges have been laid," he said.
"All these matters are now being dealt with very efficiently by the consulate and presumably by legal representatives of those Australians involved."
The Chaser team came to world attention in September 2006 over its breach of security during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting when it drove a three-car convoy to within metres of the Sydney hotel housing then US president George W. Bush.
Satirist Chas Licciardello, dressed as Osama bin Laden, then emerged from the fake Canadian motorcade.
Charges were laid against 11 members of the show over the stunt, but were later dropped.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25416050-29277,00.html
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