Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema today had an appeal to prevent investigators from continuing to wiretap his phone rejected by the Versailles court, in a big blow to his ultimate\u00a0aim of getting the charges of allegedly intending to blackmail Mathieu Valbuena with a sextape thrown out, according to the AFP.<\/p>\n
Benzema’s legal team had believed that if they could get the court to admit that there was insufficient evidence against their client to uphold the decision to maintain\u00a0the practice of the striker’s phone conversations being monitored by the authorities, then they would be able to pierce through the entire case that the prosecution is building against their client and get the charges thrown out.<\/p>\n
Serge Money, the lawyer of Mustapha Zouaoui, another individual accused of blackmail offences, explained that he was \u201csurprised\u201d by the court’s decision. All five of the accused had made a joint appeal, with all of them currently subject to all their telephone and online communications with anyone being monitored by the authorities.<\/p>\n
The Versailles court reiterated its intention to try the case against these five men for allegedly blackmailing Lyon attacking midfielder Mathieu Valbuena with a sextape.<\/p>\n
Mr Cormier, Karim Benzema’s lawyer, has reacted to the AFP:<\/p>\n
“Karim Benzema is innocent, he has done nothing reprehensible in this affair: we are going to do all we can to prove his innocence.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n