After more than six years of soap opera, the case of the ‘sextape’ ends for the French soccer player Karim Benzema, who withdrew his appeal against the conviction as an accomplice of attempted blackmail against his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Sentenced in November to one year in prison, with a suspended sentence, and a fine of 75,000 euros (about 80,000 dollars), The Real Madrid striker finally gave up fighting the sentence on appeal, the sports newspaper L’Equipe said on Friday night.
The withdrawal of the appeal “ratifies a condemnatory and apparently guilty decision. It is a judicial truth. But it is not reality,” lawyer Hugues Vigier told the newspaper, noting that his client is “exhausted” by this process.
(Also read: Néstor Lorenzo, DT of Colombia: neither yes nor no, but quite the opposite -analysis-)
The resignation will be notified to the parties on Tuesday before the court of appeal in Versailles, near Paris, which was scheduled to hold the trial on June 30 and July 1.
Benzema had been the only one to appeal the sentence
The 34-year-old soccer player was the only one of the five convicted to appeal the sentence of that process for having tried to blackmail midfielder Mathieu Valbuena with an intimate tape with sexual content.
In its verdict, the court of first instance indicated that the footballer “was personally involved (…) to convince his teammate to accept blackmail.”
Benzema did not show “any benevolence” towards his partner, rather on the contrary, he acted with a certain “joy”, the court added.
The withdrawal of the appeal puts an end to one of the most mediatic extra-sports scandals in recent years, which has kept the skilled striker away from the French team for a long time.
In October 2015, at the height of the Bleus concentration at the Clairefontaine training center, Benzema warned his partner of the video and offered to introduce him to “someone he trusted” to “manage” the situation.
The person Benzema recommended was his friend Karim Zenati, with whom the alleged blackmailers had contacted to put pressure on Valbuena, having failed in previous attempts.
The scandal lasted until the trial held in Versailles at the end of last year, held with the presence of Valbuena but without Benzema, who alleged his commitments to Real Madrid.
In addition to the striker, four other people were sentenced as perpetrators or accomplices of attempted blackmail to sentences ranging from 18 months in prison to 2 and a half years in mandatory prison.
Valbuena and Benzema ended up out of the National Team
The controversy has kept the striker away from the national team for more than five years, but also Valbuena, the current Greek Olympiacos midfielder, who has never been called up by France again.
(In other news: Byron Castillo: Fifa advanced the date of the verdict… and Colombia?)
Instead, Benzema, who has always claimed innocence, returned to the team led by Didier Deschamps for Euro 2020, which was played last year due to the pandemic. She is currently one of the undisputed starters of the team that will defend its world champion title in November in Qatar.
His lawyer’s announcement came just hours after the friendly between France and Denmark in Paris, which the locals lost 2-1 with a goal from Benzema, the recent winner of his fifth Champions League with Real Madrid and a big favorite to win the Ball gold this year.
SPORTS
with AFP
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