Two of France’s biggest international football stars are to face trial for allegedly soliciting an underage prostitute. They will appear with six other defendants, some of whom will be prosecuted for “aggravated pimping.”
Franck Ribéry, who plays for the German club Bayern Munich, and Karim Benzema, a striker at Real Madrid in Spain, have been ordered to stand trial over allegations of paid sexual encounters with Zahia Dehar, who was under 18 at the time.
The famous French footballers will appear with six other defendants, some of whom will be prosecuted for “aggravated pimping.”
The case began in 2010 when police investigated into allegations of prostitution at an expensive nightclub near the Champs Elysées.
Dehar told investigators that Benzema had paid for sex with her in 2008, when she was 16. She went on to say that Ribéry had paid to have sex with her the following year and that neither man knew her real age. Ribéry, a convert to Islam who is married with three children told police he had not known Dehar was underage.
In November last year, the Paris state prosecutor requested that the case against the footballers be dropped on the grounds that they did not know that Dehar was under 18. However, the investigative judge in charge of the case decided against this and sent it to trial. Both players face a possible three years in prison or a €45,000 fine if found guilty.
News reports indicate that Thailand and other South East Asian countries are often hotspots of underage prostitution. Recent cases in the news have included Gary Glitter’s arrest in Cambodia. The Thai government strictly prosecutes sex crimes in Thailand.
