Highlights:
- Frenchman Karim Benzema to face trial in Valbuena sex tape case
- Benzema is accused of conspiring to blackmail the Olympiakos star
- Benzema’s lawyer says the Frenchman “has nothing to be ashamed of”
Karim Benzema, the famous French footballer, has been accused of conspiracy to attempt blackmail, however, his lawyer claims that the Frenchman has “nothing to be ashamed of”. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is set to face trial over his alleged involvement in the attempted blackmail of Olympiakos star footballer Mathieu Valbuena in relation with a sex tape featuring the Olympiakos star.
The former Lyon forward has been accused of trying to extort money from his fellow French international before the start of a friendly against Armenia five years ago.
According to AFP, the French forward has now been informed by the prosecutor’s office of Versailles that he will be taken to court at a yet to be specified date.
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Responding to the news claiming that Benzema is being charged with conspiracy to attempt blackmail by telling the Efe news agency, his lawyer said, “The decision to try him is absurd and is unfair cruelty.
“Benzema has nothing to be ashamed of in this case.”
On the other hand, Valbuena’s lawyer, Paul-Albert Iweins, told L’Equipe that the decision to go to trial is “the logical continuation of the instruction which perfectly established the participation of the various people”.
In recent years, Benzema never shied away to speak on this matter being questioned on a regular basis and has always said that the fellow Frenchman Valbuena has been dragging his name “through the mud”.
In May of 2017, he told L’Equipe: “He said he would not have lodged a complaint if he knew I was involved in the story. For more than a year and a half I’m his worst enemy, a bad guy, a thug, I have to be punished, dragged through the mud, my name and that of my family, in the dirt.
“It has been almost two years since I was forbidden to see my best friend [Karim Zenati], if not we go to prison, and he is quiet, but he must stop his crap, and I do not know why he keeps talking about me already.
“(Saying) I am his enemy, I wanted to take money from him… he really has to stop inventing, it makes me mad to keep on lying.
“He just had to tell the truth about what really happened, and he would not have had all of this.”
Benzema, who has been denying of any wrongdoing, has been dropped from the International team of France ever since these allegations surfaced, against him. The 33 year old has not made a single appearance for Les Bleus since November 2015, when the last of his 81 caps was earned.
