Sports Briefs
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KARIM Benzema, Real Madrid striker and French international, will be eligible to play for France at Euro 2016. This followed the lifting of some legal restrictions placed on Benzema which prevented him from meeting Mathieu Valbuena, his French teammate. An appeal court, on Friday, March 11, lifted the restrictions.
Benzema, 28, was charged with conspiracy to blackmail in November over an alleged attempt to extort money from Valbuena, a Lyon winger, using a sex tape.
The court had placed Benzema on judicial supervision and forbidden him from coming into contact with Valbuena, victim in the case, and suspended him indefinitely from the French national team as a result.
However, last month the investigating judge lifted the order that prevented Benzema from meeting Valbuena.
On Friday, March 11, the former Lyon player received another boost when an appeal against this decision was rejected.
“The Versailles appeals court confirmed the decision of the investigating judge, which allows Karim Benzema to meet Mathieu Valbuena,” L’Equipe quoted Olivier Combe, one of Benzema’s legal team, as saying.
Benzema’s counsels are now confident that the latest ruling would pave the way for his return to the France squad.
“Common sense has reasserted itself,” Sylvan Cormier, one of Benzema’s lawyers, told reporters. “This decision lifts the legal obstacles that could have existed.”
In December, Noel Le Graet, president of the French Football Federation, said that being able to meet Valbuena again was one of the ways in which Benzema could see his suspension lifted.
When asked what it would take for Benzema to become eligible for selection again, Le Graet responded: “That the judge decides that the case file is dead or that he and Valbuena become friends again after the judge decides that they can meet.”
— Mar 21, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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