“Sextape” affair: Karim Benzema withdraws from his call, epilogue after six years of procedure

Decognized by the Versailles Criminal Court in November 2021, in the blackmail case at the “Sextape” against his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena, the French striker was to be re -joined at the end of June. He gives it up.

Le Monde with AFP

saying he is “exhausted” by the procedure, Karim Benzema will not appeal in the case of the “Sextape”, where he was sentenced to a year in a year in suspended prison, announced his lawyer on Saturday 4 June in the newspaper L’Equipe.

“This withdrawal confirms a decision of condemnation and apparently guilt. It is a judicial truth. But it is not reality,” commented Me Hugues Vigier with the sports daily. This turnaround is definitively pronounced at first instance, in November 2021, against the French center-center of Real Madrid. He had been sentenced to a year in suspended prison sentence and 75,000 euros fine for complicity in attempted blackmail against his former teammate in the French team, Mathieu Valbuena. The deisisting order will be notified to the parties Tuesday by the Versailles Court of Appeal.

The 34 -year -old was the only one of the five sentenced to attempted blackmail or complicated to have called on his criminal sanction. It was to be re -joined on June 30 and 1 July ahead of 9 e sup> Chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal. In his judgment, the Versailles Criminal Court had estimated that the footballer had “personally involved, at the cost of subterfuges and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to blackmail”. The attacker did not show “any benevolence towards Mathieu Valbuena, quite the contrary” and acted “with a certain excitement, even a certain jubilation”, had added his president.

International career stopped

This renunciation puts an end to one of the most publicized extra-sport affairs in recent years. Six and a half years have passed since the facts, which occurred in the midst of the French team gathering at the Clairefontaine training center (Yvelines) in October 2015, when Benzema exchanges with his teammate about a compromising video.

The case will be stretched until the trial held in Versailles in the fall of 2021, in the presence of Valbuena but in the absence of Benzema, retained by his scheduled schedule in Real Madrid according to his advice. The impact of this file will have stopped the rise of the French international, remained far from the Blues for more than five years before making a surprise return to the team of Didier Deschamps before the Euro in 2021.

Benzema, who has always proclaimed his innocence in this case, is now one of the indisputable executives of the tricolor selection which puts into play its title of world champion in November in Qatar. On several occasions, Benzema had reported his wish to see this judicial page turning as soon as possible. At the announcement of the dates of his trial for “complicity in attempted blackmail”, the player had thus reacted on Instagram: “Here is finally Vamonos [we go], that the masquerade goes out forever”.

The announcement of this renunciation occurs only a few hours after a match of the Blues, lost 2-1 against Denmark in Saint-Denis, with a goal from … Benzema, recent winner of his 5 ^{e Champions League and growing favorite for the Golden Ball, Supreme Individual Reward in Football.}