Versailles (AFP)
Star of world football, Karim Benzema is under the threat of a conviction in France: the Real Madrid striker is sent back to correctional in the blackmail case targeting his teammate Mathieu Valbuena, via an intimate video.
Prosecuted for "complicity in attempted blackmail", the French player faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
After a long procedure, four other men are prosecuted for "attempted blackmail" and one of them for "breach of trust" as well.
"We are unfortunately not surprised. This is a decision as absurd as it is predictable," responded Sylvain Cormier, Karim Benzema's lawyer, denouncing a "fierce" against the Real Madrid striker.
Contacted, the prestigious Spanish club did not comment.
This referral to the criminal court constitutes "the logical continuation of the instruction which perfectly established the participation of the various people", estimated the council of Mathieu Valbuena, Me Paul-Albert Iweins.
This is a new episode in a soap opera over five years old: in November 2015, the news of Karim Benzema's custody had the effect of a bomb.
The star striker of the Blues, star adulated of Real, is accused of blackmailing his teammate Mathieu Valbuena about a video of a sexual nature.
The two players are then part of the executives of Didier Deschamps' team which is preparing to play Euro-2016 at home.
In October 2015, while the Blues were preparing a friendly match against Armenia (4-0 victory), Karim Benzema took the opportunity to talk to Mathieu Valbuena about a rumor concerning him: a sextape featuring him would circulate.
People would even seek to profit from it.
This is just a warning, says Benzema.
But Valbuena sees this interview as an injunction to pay.
Since June, crooks have been trying to extract money from him in exchange for this sextape.
- Dismissal for Cissé -
He complains.
And a policeman posing as his intermediary tries to confuse the blackmailers.
Quickly, suspicion fell on Mustapha Zouaoui and Axel Angot, two men gravitating in the middle of football in Marseille.
They have made several plans to come into contact with Valbuena.
One of them is to join the current player of Olympiakos Piraeus through a teammate.
They therefore get in touch with Karim Zenati, childhood friend of Benzema, to ask him to encourage the Real striker to put pressure on "Petit Vélo" to pay.
The Versailles prosecutor's office then suspected Zenati and Benzema of "participating in a criminal association".
But they are not ultimately dismissed for this count, in accordance with the prosecution's requisitions.
Axel Angot, Mustapha Zouaoui, Karim Zenati and Younes Houass, another intermediary in contact with the blackmailers, are however referred to the Versailles court for "attempted blackmail", as requested by the public prosecutor.
Axel Angot is also dismissed for "breach of trust".
Finally, the ex-international Djibril Cissé, the first to have spoken of the sextape to Mathieu Valbuena in May 2015, was also targeted by the investigation, but the prosecution did not ask for prosecution against him.
A dismissal was rendered against him by the examining magistrate.
- Broken careers -
"It's a liberation, his image had nevertheless been tarnished by this indictment, he is still in a period of conversion," told AFP his counsel Me Arnaud Péricard.
Throughout the proceedings, the defense tried to have the investigation quashed.
The actions of the police officer posing as an intermediary in Valbuena were in the sights of lawyers who accused him of having pushed the protagonists of the case to commit an offense.
After several contradictory decisions, the Court of Cassation ruled in December 2019: the methods of the police officer were legitimate.
Since this scandal which shattered their careers in selection, neither Karim Benzema nor Mathieu Valbuena have been recalled in Blue, despite their performances.
Aged 33, Benzema is still considered one of the best strikers in the world and has been enjoying the heyday of Real Madrid since 2009 with whom he has just been crowned Spanish champion for the third time.
He has also won the Champions League four times.
Valbuena, for his part, won the Greek championship in 2020 with Olympiakos.
At 36, he is one of the club's darlings.
cal-ola-clw-leo / pga / jed / ng / bpa
© 2021 AFP