Trial of the sextape affair: the prosecution’s charge against Karim Benzema, “accomplice of negotiators and blackmailers” – Le Monde

The only defendant absent during the trial of the sextape blackmail case exercised in 2015 on his ex-teammate in the France team, Mathieu Valbuena, the star striker of the Blues Karim Benzema must have gotten wind, from Spain, where he prepares the next match of his club Real Madrid, the content of the requisitions of the public prosecutor against him.

“Benzema is the bearer of moral values, of hope for people, of notoriety and of an image”, proclaimed the prosecutor, Julien Eyraud, before requesting, Thursday, October 21, to the criminal court of Versailles, a ten-month suspended prison sentence and a € 75,000 fine against the footballer, prosecuted for “complicity in attempted blackmail. “

After six years of proceedings, Karim Benzema is suspected of having tried, on October 6, 2015, at the headquarters of the Blues in Clairefontaine (Yvelines), to convince Mathieu Valbuena to meet his childhood friend, Karim Zenati. The latter then played the role of intermediary for two alleged blackmailers, Axel Angot and Mustapha Zouaoui, who wanted to obtain a financial reward in exchange for the destruction of a video of a sexual nature featuring Mr. Valbuena on which the tandem had put my hand.

“ Benzema is not the Good Samaritan who came to the aid of his teammate, he is an accomplice and acted to allow the negotiators to achieve their ends and the blackmailers to obtain the sum they expected ”, declared Ségolène Marès, representative of the prosecution. According to her, it was after having unsuccessfully asked the former Blues striker Djibril Cissé and another intermediary, Younes Houass, to convince Mr. Valbuena to “ to pay », That Mr. Zouaoui turned to Karim Zenati.

“ Benzema’s intervention constitutes additional pressure. He joined the project, the strategy was prepared and the method was softer but also more insidious ”, develops Ms. Marès while pointing out “ authority in the French team From the attacker. “ Mr. Benzema will make Valbuena believe that he saw the video, will swear on his daughter’s head that there is no copy, he credited the blackmailers by saying that the intermediaries were serious. “

On the bench of the civil parties, the lawyer of Mr. Valbuena, Me Paul-Albert Iweins, denounced ” betrayal of a teammate ” and the “ sordid maneuvers Which would have, according to him, put an end in November 2015 to the career of his client in the France team.

“I do not believe in the thesis served by the kind Benzema”

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