Karim Benzema has just conceded a judicial defeat. The case of blackmail to the "sextape" exerted on the French international footballer Mathieu Valbuena should lead to a trial. The world learned that the Court of Cassation, meeting in plenary on Monday, December 9, had validated the procedure in progress, in which the striker Karim Benzema is indicted since November 2015 for "Complicity in attempted blackmail and participation in a criminal conspiracy".
This decision paves the way for a trial in correctional, because the file is returned to the office of the magistrate of Versailles. The striker of Real Madrid should therefore be tried for these leaders, like the other five people indicted in this case, including the former front-center Blues Djibril Cisse.
Two weeks after a decisive hearing, the nineteen magistrates considered that the police scheme put in place during the investigation was fair. The Court of Cassation notably examined the actions of a Commissioner of the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police of Versailles, appointed by the prosecution to negotiate with the presumed master singers of Mathieu Valbuena.
In June 2015, the player of the France team filed a complaint after being contacted by an individual who pushed him to find an arrangement in exchange for the non-disclosure of an intimate video showing him with his girlfriend. A commissioner of the judicial police is then charged by the prosecutor of Versailles to play the intermediaries to identify the presumed master singers – Axel Angot, Mustapha Zouaoui and Younes Houass – and to call them. Under the pseudonym "Lukas", he will multiply the exchanges with the alleged criminals.
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Suspension of the Blues
Six telephone conversations were recorded by the police between June and October 2015. They identified Karim Zenati, a childhood friend of Karim Benzema. Mr. Zenati is placed in custody on November 2, 2015, and indicted. He was instructed by the singers to contact the striker of the France team so that it evokes the "sextape" with his teammate in selection.
Three days later, Karim Benzema is indicted and placed under judicial control: he is suspected by investigators to have put pressure on Mathieu Valbuena, in October 2015, at a gathering of the Bleus in Clairefontaine (Yvelines), so that the latter finds an arrangement with the singers.
This judicial turn prompted Noël Le Graët, the president of the French Football Federation (FFF), to temporarily suspend Karim Benzema from the selection, in December 2015. The case had just been a civil party in this case.
In agreement with the coach Didier Deschamps, the boss of the FFF had decided, in April 2016, that the player of Real Madrid would not dispute the Euro, organized in France. Since his indictment, the striker Merengue has never been called again in France team.
"The policeman provoked the offense"
In the margins of these sports issues, the case gave rise to a long legal battle. On July 11, 2017, the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation gave a verdict at Camp Benzema. His decision reversed a decision of the Court of Appeal of Versailles which had validated the procedure. The attacker's lawyers questioned the role of "Lukas", who allegedly participated "Too active in the commission of facts" and so "Instigated the offense".
In November 2018, however, the Paris Court of Appeal validated the investigation, paving the way for a trial. She dismissed the motion for a declaration of nullity filed by MM. Benzema, Houass and Zenati. The trio appealed to the Court of Cassation, which had to decide in plenary session.
Before the nineteen magistrates meeting on November 25, the lawyer of MM. Benzema and Zenati, Me Patrice Spinosi, recalled that the investigators relaunched Mr. Houass when they had not "No more news" of the last "For almost a month". "It is believed that the officer provoked the offense and had an active role that vitiated the investigation, confided Me Spinosi. The decision of the Court of Cassation may drop the whole procedure. " Me Sylvain Cormier, one of Benzema's advisers, stated:
" The police officer repeatedly relaunched his interlocutors, was the initiator of the discussions, first addressed the financial issues, up to determine the amount of remuneration. This behavior corresponds exactly to that which was already sanctioned by the Court of Cassation in a judgment of February 1996. We believe that the law should be respected and the procedure canceled. "
"A wise stop"
For Mr Valbuena's lawyers, the idea of a provocation to the offense was to be dismissed insofar as the blackmail took place before the police intervention and where the master singers never gave up their project.
"Well beyond this sordid case of" sextape ", the plenary judgment will reassure all current or future victims of crimes by allowing the police or the gendarmerie to use the means to investigation that they need. It is a wise stop that avoids disarming the police of the Republic ", reacts Me Frédéric Thiriez, Mr. Valbuena's lawyer.
The decision of the Court of Cassation – which is not subject to further appeal – comes as the President of the FFF, Noël Le Graët, assured, on November 16, that "Adventure" of Karim Benzema with the France team was "Complete". "Know that it's me and I alone that will put an end to my international career"replied the person on his Twitter account.
