French footballer Karim Benzema (centre), wearing a white hooded
jersey, arrives at the police station in Versailles, southwest of Paris,
on November 4, 2015.
Matthieu Alexandre / AFP/Getty Images
PARIS (AP)
France and
Real Madrid striker
Karim Benzema
is facing preliminary criminal charges as part of an investigation into
blackmail over a sex tape involving teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
After being held overnight by police for questioning at a
Versailles police station, Benzema was to be brought before a judge
later Thursday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The judge will then decide whether Benzema should be charged or
regarded as an ''assisted witness,'' which in French law means he has
not been formally charged but could be in the course of the
investigation.
A judicial official with direct knowledge of the case, who spoke
on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, told The
Associated Press that prosecutors have asked for Benzema to be charged.
Investigators are trying to find out if the Real Madrid forward
played a role in the extortion attempt targeting Valbuena, and if he
actually tried to blackmail the Lyon midfielder.
Both Benzema and Valbuena play for France's national team.
Three other people have been handed preliminary charges over the case since October.
Benzema spent about 24 hours in custody in Versailles after being summoned on Wednesday morning in the city just outside Paris.
In the same case, former France international Djibril Cisse was
briefly detained last month after being suspected of conspiracy to
blackmail, a charge with a maximum prison sentence of five years. Cisse,
who has since retired from soccer, was released without seeing a judge.
Benzema's lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, said his client contacted the
judge in charge of the case as soon as his name was mentioned in the
media last month to let him know he was willing to answer questions from
detectives.
''He wants to put an end as soon as possible to this controversy
that rose from a case he did not take part in,'' Cormier said Wednesday.
The case started earlier this year when Valbuena decided to take
legal action after being contacted by a man claiming to be in possession
of an incriminating sex tape.
For Benzema, it's not the first time he has faced problems off the field.
Five years ago, preliminary charges were filed against Benzema
and Franck Ribery for soliciting an underage prostitute. Both players
were questioned as part of a probe into a suspected network of
prostitutes that operated out of a nightclub on Paris' glitzy
Champs-Elysees. The case lasted three years before they were acquitted.
