The attacker of the France team, sentenced to one year in prison with stay and 75,000 euros fine, will appeal.
Le Monde with AFP
Karim Benzema has been convicted of complicity of blackmail attempt towards his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena in the case of the “Sextape”. The Versailles Criminal Court sentenced, Wednesday, November 24, to one year in prison and € 75,000.
The player will appeal this decision, announced his lawyer. At the hearing, his lawyers had pleaded the relaxed, arguing in particular that “the intentional element of the offense” which was reproached was not characterized.
The attacker of Real Madrid, who did not attend the three days of laws last month because of his club’s sporting agenda, according to his lawyers, was not present at reading Of the deliberation: his club plays in the evening a champions league match on the lawn of the Sheriff Tiraspol, in Moldova.
The public prosecutor had requested against him ten months of suspended prison and € 75,000. At the indictment, the prosecutors had recalled the duty of exemplary of the French star, “carrying an image, hope, notoriety and moral values”.
The Versailles Correctional Court also delivered sentences ranging from eighteen months of imprisonment with 2 and a half years in prison against the four other defendants of this file.
Sports consequences
At the hearing, Mathieu Valbuena, 37, current midfielder of Olympiakos, Greece, had explained to have “scared” for his career. “I knew that if the video was going out, it was going to be complicated for me,” he explained to the bar, before specifying: “I felt in danger, my first reflex was to file a complaint.”
The former player in Marseille and Lyon had also recalled that this affair had cost him his place in France team, which had 52 selections at the time. Karim Benzema remained far from the tricolor selection for more than five years before making a surprise return before the Euro 2021.
Two weeks ago, the boss of the French Football Federation, Christmas The Graët, had explained that the three-year striker “would not be excluded” selection in case of “judicial sanction”. Asked about this issue in early October, coach Didier Deschamps remained evasive, repeating that he was doing “sports choices” when convening his players. As for Real Madrid, it seems very unlikely that it sanctions one of its best players, that he has always supported in this case.