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BENZEMA

French PM blamed after Benzema axed over sex-tape

French football chiefs have confirmed that Karim Benzema has been barred from their Euro 2016 squad over the sex tape blackmail scandal he is mired in. Although some are blaming the French PM.

Published: 14 April 2016 07:37 CEST
French PM blamed after Benzema axed over sex-tape

Embroiled in the Mathieu Valbuena sex-tape scandal, France forward Karim Benzema will not be selected for Euro 2016, the player and the French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately for me and for those who have always backed me and supported me, I will not be selected for our Euro in France,” Benzema revealed on his official Twitter account.

That was the cue for the player's lawyer to take aim at the country's Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who said last month that Benzema should not be allowed to return to the national team while he remains at the centre of the investigation.

Eric Dupond-Moretti blamed the intervention of Valls for influencing the FFF's decision.

“I am not happy with the Prime Minister for getting involved in the selection of the France team. It is not his job,” he told RMC Radio

Earlier the FFF had released a statement, confirming that the organization's president Noel Le Graet had met with France coach Didier Deschamps to discuss Benzema's position.

They said that “sporting performance is an important factor but not the only one that decides whether a player is called up to the France squad.

“The capacity of the players to strive towards unity, within and around the squad, to be exemplary…are also taken into account.

“As a result, Noel Le Graet and Didier Deschamps have decided that Karim Benzema will not be able to participate at Euro 2016.”

Benzema, 28, was indefinitely suspended from the France team in December after he was placed under investigation over an attempt to blackmail France teammate Valbuena in relation to a sex-tape.

Benzema has been accused of complicity in the attempt.

Legal restrictions barring Benzema from coming into contact with Valbuena were recently lifted, but the case has not yet been resolved.

According to investigators, Benzema was approached by a childhood friend from Lyon, Karim Zenati, who asked him to persuade Valbuena to pay money to have the tape destroyed.

Instead, Valbuena went to the police.

Three men were arrested and held in custody over the demands to Valbuena, but they were subsequently released.

Benzema has denied any wrongdoing but could face a five-year jail term if found guilty.

 

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FOOTBALL

Real Madrid’s Benzema hits out at attempted kidnapping claims

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has brushed off reports he was involved in the attempted kidnapping of an acquaintance who owes him €50,000.

Published: 19 October 2018 12:53 CEST
Real Madrid's Benzema hits out at attempted kidnapping claims
Karim Benzema has been accused of attempting to kidnap someone who owes him money. Photo: AFP

“This must stop,” Benzema said on his Twitter page Friday following a report by the Mediapart website implicating the exiled France international in the attempted kidnap.

Mediapart's report, published late on Thursday, claimed Benzema was personally involved in the alleged attempt because he was owed the money by a supposed victim identified only as Leo D.

The report cites the testimony of Leo D., a former acquaintance of Benzema's who filed a complaint with police on October 8th following the alleged kidnap.

The 33-year-old said close acquaintances of Benzema, including the player's driver, attempted to load him into a black van in Paris on October 7th following the Paris Saint-Germain v Lyon league clash.

Mediapart said money owed to the player was behind the attempt and that the victim, according to his testimony, believes he saw Benzema in the back of the van.

Prosecutors in Paris have opened an investigation into the driver over the attempted extortion, a source close to the investigation told AFP.   

Benzema, however, is believed not to have been present, according to the latest police reports Benzema's lawyer Sylvain Cormier played down Leo D.'s claims, saying: “This man has not been signed off from work for medical reasons, he's accusing a friend of Benzema's of grabbing his arm, and we also know that Karim Benzema was not present.

“And yet, he (Benzema) is being accused of attempted kidnapping. It's just grotesque.”

Benzema, who has not played for France since being left out of the squad ahead of Euro 2016, has been dogged by controversy in previous years.   

In 2010 he was one of four French players charged with soliciting sex with a minor, 16-year-old prostitute Zahia Dehar. The charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.

In 2015 he was arrested over his alleged role in a sextape scandal in which former France teammate Mathieu Valbuena was allegedly blackmailed.   

That episode put his France career on hold after then French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said “athletes need to be exemplary. If they are not, they have no place on the France team.”

The Paris appeals court is to rule in November on whether the sex tape investigation can continue.

READ MORE: Real Madrid's Benzema 'admits role' in sex tape blackmail scheme