2023-11-17 14:32:31
It is rare that when summoned, a football player responds negatively. At least when it comes to the green rectangle. Before the commission of inquiry into the failures within the French sports federations launched last July by the environmentalist deputy Sabrina Sebaihi, Karim Benzema will ultimately not appear.
However, as we recalled in September, these summons are not optional. Any French citizen, even residing abroad, is required to respond under penalty of prosecution, as provided for in Article 6 of Ordinance No. 58-1100 of November 17, 1958. The Ittihad Club attacker had was summoned during the summer, to be interviewed as a “potential victim of racist acts”. Summons which was first declined, through his lawyers, on the grounds that he resides in Saudi Arabia.
The relaunch of the commission will ultimately not lead to a hearing, as explained by the Team. “We tried for a long time but he has other priorities”, “he didn’t want to, and he’s not in France”, confirms a source close to the commission. The members of the commission ended up accepting his non-appearance and focusing on the busy program of the last week of hearings to come, including those of Bernard Laporte (former president of the FFR) or Vincent Labrune (president of the National Football League).
The testimony of Karim Benzema interested parliamentarians on the subject of discrimination. Between 2016 and his return to the French team in 2021, Benzema was excluded from the selection, a exclusion following the sex tape affair with Mathieu Valbuena. He had accused the coach of having “given in under pressure from a racist part of France” following his non-selection for the Euro.
The commission’s hearings will continue until the end of next week. The initial end date, set for Friday the 17th, was pushed back by a week due to a trip by the rapporteur Sabrina Sebaihi.
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