The appeal trial against Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema in the so-called 'sextape' case will take place on June 30 and July 1, a few months before the World Cup in Qatar 2022, a judicial source said on Tuesday, confirming an information from the newspaper Le Monde.
In November, the French justice sentenced the footballer, who became the top scorer in the history of French football on Monday, to one year in prison, suspended from prison, and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000) as an accomplice in the attempt to blackmail his former team mate Mathieu Valbuena with an intimate video.
Benzema was the only one of the five convicted of attempted blackmail or complicity against Valbuena to appeal the first instance sentence.
The player did not appear for trial for “professional reasons”, as one of his lawyers Antoine Vey justified at that time, adding that the footballer would stand trial on appeal.
Benzema, 34, was personally involved (...) to convince his teammate to accept blackmail,” the Versailles correctional court said to justify his sentence, specifying that the striker showed “some joy” and “no benevolence” with Valbuena.
Although the outbreak of the “sextape” scandal took him away for five years from the French national team until his return on the eve of the European Championship held in 2021, the sentence seems to have no sports toll, a year before the World Cup and when Benzema is experiencing his best moment as an athlete.
The Frenchman scored two of the goals from Real Madrid's 3-0 win against Mallorca (3-0) that brought the white team closer to the league title on Monday, less than a week after scoring a treble that served the merengue club to eliminate Paris SG (3-1) in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
With the two goals scored against Mallorca, Benzema scored 412 goals in his career and beats Thierry Henry (410) as the top French goalscorer in history.
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