Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been found guilty in $ex tape blackmail case
The France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has finally been judged after a long time of being in court over his $extape blackmailing case. A senior judge who was in charge of the case has handed the French man (Benzema) a one-year suspended jail term and has ordered him to pay a €75,000 (£63,000; $84,000) fine.
Let dive small into what happened, Karim Benzema who is now 33 years of age was among the five people who were on trial for this same case, the case against them was that they were attempting to extort Frenchman Mathieu Valbuena.
Karim Benzema lost his position in the France National Team team due to this same scandal and it stunned the football community in France, in this case, both players lost their national team places.
This particular case has been in court since June 2015, and it all happened when the two footballers were at a French training camp.
During one of their training session, Benzema puts pressure on Valbuena to pay off the blackmailers, whom he had conspired with to act as an intermediary, prosecutors said.
There have been so many words from Benzema concerning his involvement in this case, he has always denied the allegations and insisted he was only trying to help his friend Valbuena get rid of the compromising video.
Benzema has now returned to the France team and is expected to start for Real Madrid on Wednesday night when they play FC Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League. Benzema wasn’t present in court in Versailles for the verdict same as Valbuena, who plays for Greek club Olympiakos.
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Four of Benzema’s co-defendants in the trial were also found guilty on Wednesday. They were handed jail sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Benzema’s lawyers said they would appeal his conviction. “The reaction is ultimately an angry one to this judgment which is perfectly contradictory,” his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told reporters outside court.
But when delivering the verdict, the judge said Benzema had “implicated himself personally, through subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to the blackmail”.
Benzema made a surprise comeback to the French national team in May, five years after he was exiled from the side when the allegations first surfaced in 2015.
But last month, the French football federation said a guilty verdict would not necessarily jeopardize Benzema’s position in the national side.
Since being called back by France manager Didier Deschamps, Benzema has been in prolific form, scoring nine times in 13 games for his country. He’s also scored 10 goals this season for his club, Real Madrid, who are yet to comment on the verdict.
For his performances on the pitch, Benzema was named a candidate for the Ballon d’Or footballer of the year award which will be announced next week.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/
