The case of the sextape is now closed. French striker Karim Benzema, “exhausted” by the procedure, gave up appealing in the case of the “sextape”, where he was sentenced at first instance to a suspended one-year prison sentence, his lawyer announced on Saturday in the newspaper L’Equipe. “This withdrawal endorses a decision of conviction and apparently guilt. It is a legal truth. But this is not the reality, ”commented Me Hugues Vigier to the sports daily. The Real Madrid center-forward was sentenced at first instance for complicity in attempted blackmail against his former teammate in the France team, Mathieu Valbuena.
The judgment fell on November 24, 2021. Lambasting a “very severe and unfair” sanction, in this case greater than the requisitions of 10 months suspended prison sentence, the defense of Karim Benzema immediately announced its intention to appeal. A few months later, Benzema, who has now become essential in the France team and even scored on Friday evening against Denmark, finally decided to give up.
75,000 euro fine
This reversal makes final the sentence pronounced at first instance, in November 2021, against the center forward of Real Madrid. He had been sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros for complicity in attempted blackmail against his former teammate in the France team, Mathieu Valbuena.
The 34-year-old was the only one of the five convicted of attempted blackmail or complicity to have appealed his criminal sanction. He was to be retried on June 30 and July 1 before the 9th chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal.
In its judgment, the Versailles Criminal Court considered that the footballer had “personally involved himself, at the cost of subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to blackmail”.
Benzema, who has always claimed his innocence in this affair, stayed away from the Blues for more than five years before making a surprise return to Didier Deschamps’ team before Euro 2021. He is now one of the indisputable executives of the tricolor selection which hands over its title of world champion in June in November in Qatar.