Karim Benzema’s request for a showdown with fellow France international Mathieu Valbuena over an alleged blackmail case in which Benzema has been charged has been rejected, judicial sources confirmed on Monday.
“The request for a confrontation was turned down on December 22,” the prosecutor’s office in Versailles, outside Paris, told reporters.
Real Madrid striker Benzema, 28, was charged on Nov. 5 with complicity to blackmail and conspiring to commit a criminal act involving a sex video featuring Valbuena.
Photo: AP
Valbuena has said the sex images were on a mobile telephone that was stolen.
Benzema has denied any wrongdoing.
He could face a five-year jail term if found guilty.
Photo: Reuters
Benzema was also banned from meeting 31-year-old Valbuena, a midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais, where Benzema began his career.
A confrontation could have acted as “one of the levers to lift the judicial review” and advance the case, Benzema’s lawyer Alain Jakubowicz said.
Last month, Benzema was indefinitely suspended from the France national team over the case.
He is alleged to have approached Valbuena at a national training camp on Oct. 5 to encourage him to speak to the blackmailers, one of whom was a close childhood friend.
Valbuena has said that Benzema “indirectly” urged him to pay.
French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said the suspension would include Euro 2016, which is to start on June 10, unless the case is settled beforehand.
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