Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Benzema available for Euro 2016 after legal restrictions lifted

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is free to play in Euro 2016 after legal restrictions placed on him over his alleged involvement in a sextape blackmail case were lifted Friday
(FILES) This file photo taken on October 09, 2015 shows French forward Karim Benzema celebrating after scoring a goal during the friendly football match between France and Armenia on October 8, 2015 at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, southeastern France. The judicial review of Karim Benzema, indicted in the sex-tape blackmailing affair against Mathieu Valbuena, was lifted on March 11, 2016, by the Versailles Court of Appeal, opening the way to its come-back in the French national team for Euro 2016. / AFP / VALERY HACHE

(FILES) This file photo taken on October 09, 2015 shows French forward Karim Benzema celebrating after scoring a goal during the friendly football match between France and Armenia on October 8, 2015 at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, southeastern France.<br />The judicial review of Karim Benzema, indicted in the sex-tape blackmailing affair against Mathieu Valbuena, was lifted on March 11, 2016, by the Versailles Court of Appeal, opening the way to its come-back in the French national team for Euro 2016. / AFP / VALERY HACHE

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is free to play in Euro 2016 after legal restrictions placed on him over his alleged involvement in a sextape blackmail case were lifted Friday, his lawyers said.

Under the restrictions, Benzema was not allowed to come into contact with his international teammate Mathieu Valbuena who was the target of the blackmail attempt.

But an appeals court upheld an investigating magistrate’s decision to lift the restrictions, allowing Benzema to be involved in the same national squad as Valbuena, if the two are selected for the tournament that France is hosting.

“Good sense has won the day,” one of Benzema’s lawyers, Sylvain Cormier, told reporters.

“Now the decision (of Benzema’s potential involvement in Euro 2016) is no longer ours,” he added.

France coach Didier Deschamps suspended 28-year-old Benzema from the national team after he was placed under formal investigation over the affair in November.

Despite Friday’s ruling, Benzema remains under investigation.

0 Comments