The affair of the “sextape” is coming to an end, six and a half years after the facts. French international Karim Benzema waived his appeal in the trial against his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena on Friday June 3, confirming his one-year suspended prison sentence and 75,000 fine in November 2021.
Sentenced at first instance for complicity in attempted blackmail, the Real Madrid superstar finally withdrew his appeal, his lawyer, Hugues Vigier, told AFP, confirming information from the Actu78 site. “This withdrawal endorses a decision of conviction and apparently guilt”commented the lawyer, quoted by The Team. “It’s a forensic truth. But it’s not the reality.”
The 34-year-old footballer 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 Versailles Court of Appeal, where he was expected to come and explain himself.
In its judgment at first instance, the Versailles Criminal Court found that the footballer had “personally involved, at the cost of subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to blackmail”. The attacker did not show “no benevolence towards Mathieu Valbuena, quite the contrary” and acted “with a certain excitement, even a certain jubilation”according to the judge.
This extra-sports affair, which has become one of the most publicized in recent years, began in the middle of the French team rally in Clairefontaine (Yvelines), in October 2015, when Karim Benzema had exchanged with his teammate about a compromising video. The repercussions of this file halted the rise of the French international, who remained away from the Blues for more than five years, before making a surprise return to Didier Deschamps’ team before the Euro in 2021.
The Ballon d’Or contender, who has always claimed his innocence in this case, is now one of the indisputable executives of the tricolor selection. On several occasions, he had expressed his wish to see this judicial page turned as soon as possible. When the dates of his trial for “complicity in attempted blackmail” were announced, the player reacted on Instagram as follows: “There we go finally vamonos (here we go), may the masquerade be extinguished forever”.