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Reuters
Real Madrid star Karim Benzema will appear in court in Versailles between October 20 and 22, for “complicity in attempted blackmail” of a sex tape in 2015 by his former teammate in the France team, Matteo Valbuena.
The 33-year-old assailant faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros, in the event that four other men are tried for attempted extortion, where one of them is also tried for abuse of trust.
Benzema is accused of instigating Valbuena to pay a sum of money to the blackmailers who threatened to reveal an intimate video of him, and the former admitted at the time that he interfered in the affair at the request of one of the extortionists.
The file is based in particular on a discussion which took place in October 2015 between Benzema and Valbuena at Clarefontaine, the training center of the France team, during which Benzema would have made it clear that he could present Valbuena as a “trusted person”, according to what the latter said at the hearing, to help him “deal with it”. With a possible output of tape.
French justice will determine whether this conversation is the result of friendly advice or harmful pressure.
When Benzema was brought before the Versailles Criminal Court last January, his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, denounced the decision, saying: “Unfortunately, we are not surprised. It is a ridiculous and predictable decision.”
According to the prosecution, Benzema revealed to Valbuena the existence of the tape in October 2015, while the France team was at the camp for a friendly match against Armenia in the French city of Nice.
Benzema said at the time that he intervened with Valbuena at the request of a childhood friend of mine who had taken refuge with the crooks in their possession.
Benzema has missed the France national team since August 2015 due to his role in the affair.
Source: AFP
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