IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Bayern Munich and Real Madrid stars to go on trial for paying for sex in 2008 and 2009 with prostitute, then a minor.
Last Modified: 18 Jun 2013 06:08
Dehar was 16 years old when the crime allegedly took place [EPA]
French footballers Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, accused of paying for sex with an underage call girl, will go on trial in Paris after being investigated for two years.
Bayern Munich winger Ribery and Real Madrid striker Benzema are to stand trial on Tuesday on allegations of paying Zahia Dehar, then a minor, for sex in 2008 and 2009.
Ribery's lawyer, Carlo-Alberto Brusa, said his client was innocent and should not be expected to show up in court.
"In French law, it's not forbidden to make love to a woman and even to pay her for it, what is forbidden is to do it with a minor," he told Reuters. "When a woman travels around Europe by plane, can you imagine thinking for one second that she's a minor?"
Ribery has acknowledged the encounter but said he did not know she was underage, nor that she was a prostitute. He said he only gave her 200 euros for a taxi ride to the airport.
The trial is expected to run until June 26.
The scandal, which exposed footballers' tastes for flings and partying, came ahead of the 2010 World Cup, further damaging the image of a French squad already tarnished by internal bickering, public tantrums and defeats.
Possible sentences
Algerian-born Dehar, now 21, has since become designer Karl Lagerfeld's muse and protegee, launching her own lingerie line.
The footballers could be sentenced to up to three years in jail and fines of $60,000 if found guilty of soliciting the services of an underage prostitute.
According to court documents, Dehar had been a prostitute since the age of 15 or 16, but would tell clients she was 18.
She said she was flown in from Paris to Munich in 2009 for Ribery's 26th birthday party in a luxury hotel, and that he paid her 700 euros for sex.
Re: Bayern Munich and Real Madrid stars to go on trial for paying for sex with prosti
Prostitution trial against Ribéry and Benzema is adjourned until 2014
• Technical challenge delays hearing of central charges
• Benzema lawyer says wait will be 'painful' for his client
Reuters
The Guardian, Tuesday 18 June 2013 20.53 BST
Franck Ribéry's lawyer, Alberto Carlo Brusa, arrives at court in Paris, where the trial against Ribéry and Karim Benzema was adjourned. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP
The trial of the French footballers Franck Ribéry and Karim Benzema over claims they paid for sex with an underage call girl has been adjourned for procedural reasons until 2014.
Benzema, a Real Madrid striker, and Ribéry, a Bayern Munich winger, are to be tried on charges of paying Zahia Dehar, a prostitute, for sex in 2008 and 2009, when she was only 16 and then 17 years old – below the legal age of 18 for a prostitute in France. Neither footballer showed up in court on Tuesday.
The pair, both players in France's national squad, have been under investigation since 2010 over the affair. They risk up to three years in jail and fines of €45,000 if found guilty of soliciting the services of an underage prostitute.
At Tuesday's hearing, Ribéry's lawyer claimed a clause in France's penal code that forbids the soliciting of underage prostitutes was too vague to be used against his client. The court found his objection serious enough to adjourn the trial until 20 January 2014, allowing time for the issue to be put to a higher court and possibly passed to the supreme court.
In France, paying for sex is not illegal but underage prostitution is, along with pimping. Ribéry and Benzema's lawyers had called for the case to be dropped, saying their clients did not know Dehar was a minor.
According to court documents, the Algerian-born Dehar became a prostitute around 15 or 16 but would tell clients she was 18.
Ribéry's lawyer welcomed the trial's adjournment but Benzema's lawyer said the wait was "painful" for his client.
