The court on Thursday accused Ferguson in absentia of going "against the law in acquiring footage and violating privacy" of five children. She faces a maximum term of 22 1/2 years in prison if convicted. No trial date has been set.
Ferguson, the former wife of Britain's Prince Andrew, made an undercover trip to Turkey in 2008 to examine orphanages for a British television program. Secretly filmed images that were broadcast appeared to show children tied to their beds or left in cribs at an orphanage near the capital of Ankara.
It is not clear why it took more than three years to file charges against Ferguson.
