The French police detained football internationals Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema on Tuesday as they faced possible charges in a probe into an alleged under-age prostitution ring.
The police questioned the pair for several hours before taking Ribery to a court, where a judge was to decide whether they should be charged with paying for sex with a minor, which could see them jailed for three years. Benzema was due to follow shortly afterwards, a judicial source said.
The players were held at the request of magistrate Yves Dando, who is probing claims that a Champs Elysees nightclub gave clients access to minors working as call girls, the source close to the inquiry said. They were interrogated at the headquarters of France’s BRP vice-squad on the Ile de la Cite in central Paris on Tuesday morning, before Ribery was seen being taken the short distance to the Palace of Justice. Ribery’s 22-year-old brother-in-law and 29-year-old agent were also questioned and may also face charges, judicial sources said.
One of the women who is alleged to have met clients at the Zaman Cafe testified to investigators earlier in the year that she had had relations with the two players while she was still under 18. If they are charged and convicted of soliciting and paying for sex with a minor, the pair face three years in jail and a fine of $58,000, but only if prosecutors prove they knew she was underage. —AFP