Europe 1 with AFP 2:08 p.m., December 23, 2022

Mathias Pogba obtained his release on Thursday, after his indictment and remand in custody on September 18 in the investigation of extortion targeting his brother, footballer Paul Pogba.

The brother of the football star would have left the Villepinte remand center on Friday.

Mathias Pogba, indicted and in pre-trial detention since September 18 in the investigation of extortion targeting his footballer brother Paul Pogba, obtained his release on Thursday, we learned on Friday from a judicial source, confirming a information from the Parisian.

In an order signed Thursday, the two investigating judges granted the request for release filed a few days earlier by Mathias Pogba's lawyer, said the judicial source.

The prosecution did not object to this request, she added.

His lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou, could not be reached at midday.

According to Le Parisien, Mathias Pogba, 32, left the Villepinte remand center in Seine-Saint-Denis on Friday morning, where he had been imprisoned since September 18.

An enigmatic video triggers the case

Indicted for extortion in an organized gang and participation in a criminal conspiracy, he had already challenged his placement in pre-trial detention, first with the two investigating judges in charge of this case then, faced with their refusal, before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.

In this case, four other suspects, relatives of the Pogba brothers aged 27 to 36, were indicted in particular for extortion with a weapon, kidnapping in an organized gang and criminal conspiracy. 

It was Mathias Pogba himself who revealed in an enigmatic video broadcast on August 27 the extortion of which his younger brother claims to be a victim.

Paul Pogba, who plays at Juventus in Turin (Italy) had denounced in a complaint filed with the Turin public prosecutor's office on July 16, extortion amounting to 13 million euros between March and July 2022. 

Mathias Pogba denies the facts of which he is suspected

A preliminary investigation had been opened by the Paris prosecutor's office, then a judicial investigation on September 2 for, in particular, extortion with a weapon, kidnapping or kidnapping in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association.

>> READ ALSO - 

Back to the soap opera of the Paul Pogba affair and to the discretion of Kylian Mbappé

Paul Pogba told French investigators that he was trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men, armed with assault rifles, accusing him of not having helped them financially.

Of the 13 million euros claimed, he says he paid 100,000 euros.

Mathias Pogba, who denies any participation in the facts, is also suspected of having pressured his brother's agent, lawyer Rafaela Pimenta, to get Paul Pogba to pay the sum claimed by his masters -singers.