Paris (AFP)
The Court of Cassation slice Monday on the fairness of the methods of investigation in the case of sextape blackmail footballer Mathieu Valbuena, a key decision for Karim Benzema, questioned for four years in this case.
Did the police use an abusive scheme? This is what the lawyers of the Real Madrid striker, indicted for "complicity of blackmail attempt" on his former team-mate in Blue in 2015, and for "participation in a criminal conspiracy for the preparation of a crime ".
After a hearing on 25 November, the Court of Cassation, meeting in plenary, will decide on this point Monday in the early afternoon.
This is the last attempt to cancel the procedure for Karim Benzema who has not been selected in the French team since the revelation of this case, just like Mathieu Valbuena.
If the Court orders the quashing of the police, the investigation will be shaken. On the contrary, if it rejects appeals, the case will return to the office of the investigating judge at Versailles, paving the way for a trial in correctional law.
Five other people, including Benzema's childhood friend, Karim Zenati, and former footballer Djibril Cissé, are indicted in this case that originated in June 2015.
At the time, Mathieu Valbuena solicited the police after receiving a call informing him of the existence of a sexual video on which he is clearly identifiable. His interlocutor threatens to make the document public.
An investigation is opened and a police officer will then pretend to be a negotiator sent by the player. This policeman will have contacts only with an intermediary, Younes Houass, who gravitated then in the middle of the football.
Karim Benzema will enter the file a few months later, in October, when he will discuss the existence of the video with Valbuena during a rally of the French team in Clairefontaine: a simple friendly conversation to prevent him according to the attacker Real, an order to pay according to the investigators.
For the lawyers of Karim Benzema, there was in this case an incitement to the crime: the "zeal" of the policeman under cover "vitiated" the procedure.
"He will take the lead of the exchanges by relaunching his contacts regularly," pleaded Patrice Spinosi at the hearing in late November.
While no more exchanges have taken place since June 8, "the officer alone takes the initiative to revive his contacts on July 15". Same thing in September when it is "urgent", evoking for the first time "a financial counterpart", while opposite, "the interlocutor expresses his will to put an end to exchanges" around the video.
- "War Ruses" -
Methods quite normal for the lawyer of Mathieu Valbuena, Me Frederic Thiriez. "The investigator only did his job as would a relative negotiator in a kidnapping and sequestration case," he said.
To put oneself to the arguments of the defense would be to "disarm the police" to which "it is not forbidden to be cunning", added the lawyer.
Advocate General Frederic Desportes followed this line of reasoning: "If the blows are forbidden, the simple ruses of war are not" in matters of investigation, he said, asking the rejection of the appeal.
"Investigators can not be required to conduct their investigations in a transparent manner," he insisted, finding that there was "no deception on the essentials".
In July 2017, the Court of Cassation had given reason to Karim Benzema before the Paris Court of Appeal could resist, leading the player to appeal again in cassation.
"What is expected is that the Court of Cassation confirms the solution it had already retained two years ago," said Friday Spinosi. "It's crucial, if the solution is reaffirmed, logically, the entire file must fall," he wants to believe.
The lawyer Mathieu Valbuena did not wish to speak before Monday.
This time, the decision of the Court of Cassation is not subject to a new appeal.
© 2019 AFP