The sextape affair around former French internationals Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena continues to cause a sensation.
The blog Le Parisien Benzema's published testimony before the investigating judge - in which the Real Madrid striker clearly confesses to having lied to his national teammates. Contrary to previous statements, he has never seen the sex tape with Valbuena himself.
Benzema complains to have reported
“I should have told him I hadn't seen him. But I played myself, I played. I've never seen this video, ”Benzema said, confirming a first statement from November.
Valbuena had testified that Benzema had assured him that he had seen the video: “He swore it to me on his daughter. He said it was hot material. "
Benzema still does not consider himself guilty. He admitted to doing something "stupid", but the French media were exaggerating the matter.
“I am very angry with the media coverage. The press treats me like a terrorist, ”said the 28-year-old attacker. “The worst part is watching my family suffer. My parents cry, my nephews are verbally abused at school, and I receive threatening letters. "
Benzema's charge
Benzema was the subject of an investigation for "complicity in attempted extortion" and "participation in the constitution of a criminal organization with a view to committing a crime punishable by at least five years in prison".
The 28-year-old has been accused of blackmailing Valbuena and his childhood friend Karim Zenati with a video showing the Olympique Lyon professional having sex with his girlfriend. A phone recording with Zenati further weighed on the real striker.
In his testimony in November, Benzema had only introduced himself as a worried friend of Valbuenas who wanted to help him: “It concerned someone I know from the France team - a friend. I wanted him to know about this matter. And I wanted to talk to him about CA. "
At odds with this, however, Valbuena had stated that Benzema scared her.
Expulsion from the national team
The case initially had an impact on Benzema's career. When the allegations became apparent, Benzema was kicked from the national team by the French football association FFF in December 2015.
"Karim Benzema cannot be appointed as long as the situation does not change, as long as there is no novelty in his case", then declared the president of the FFF Noël Le Graet.
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The forward played his last game for the Eqiupe Tricolore in October 2015 when he scored twice in the 4-0 win over Armenia.
After the exclusion, he was no longer nominated for the French selection. Benzema missed the 2016 European Championship in his country and the 2018 World Championship in Russia, which “Les Bleus” crowned with the title.
But even for victim Valbuena, the national team career was a thing of the past. For the FFF, his name was too closely linked to the negative headlines of the scandal.
Benzema wins court case, suspicions remain
A year before the French world title, Benzema achieved legal success.
The French Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling approving previous judicial inquiries into the Real Madrid striker. The case was reopened by the Paris Court of Appeal, like the French press agency AFP reported.
"If the investigating chamber follows the decision of the Court of Cassation, it has no choice but to cancel the entire procedure," said Benzema's lawyer, Patrice Spinosi.
The court's turn came when defense lawyers complained about the role of the police in the preliminary investigation. A policeman impersonated Valbuena's negotiator and thus came across controversial statements from the attacker. The Supreme Court disapproved of this practice and overturned the verdict.
Nevertheless, the allegation of complicity in the sex tape affair with Benzema is still in the room.
Victim Valbuena fled France
The incident did not leave the victim of blackmail unscathed. Mathieu Valbuena has not played in the French league since 2017. He first moved to Turkey to Fenerbahce Istanbul, in 2019 he moved to Olympiacos Piraeus.
Related to The Team the midfielder justified his departure from Ligue 1 because of the blackmail affair: "I had to move away from France so that people talk less about me, somewhere where I would only be judged to my qualities as a footballer. "
In France, he was no longer objectively evaluated, “regardless of my performance on the field. I wanted to start over, in another country where I would have a lot more credit ”.
The scandal is still firmly linked to his name in his home country.
