lid on excesses of Paris party scene
FRENCH footballers Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have gone on trial
in Paris accused of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute, Zahia
Dehar, who has since become a well-known fashion designer and muse to
Karl Lagerfeld.
The scandal, which broke shortly before a disastrous 2010 World Cup
for the French football team, has been described as one of the biggest
to hit French sport and the trial has been hotly anticipated.
"[It] promises to reveal the excesses of the Paris party scene, where
young women were seen as available for hire through the right
contacts, gravitating around the edges of the French reality TV
scene," reports The Guardian, which adds that it could expose "a
culture of pimping in the French capital just as the Socialist
government has expressed its aim to abolish prostitution".
The two players deny the allegations against them, and Zahia has
claimed that neither men knew she was under-age at the time of their
encounters. However, the investigating judge said that Zahia, who is
now 21, must have looked so young that the players should face trial.
The age of consent in France is 15 and prostitution is legal, but paid
sex with someone under 18 is illegal and is classified as sex with a
minor. The maximum punishment is three years in prison and a E45,000
fine.
Ribery, who last month won the Champions League with Bayern Munich,
flew Dehar to his hotel in Germany in 2009 when she was 17 and paid
£600 for sex as a "birthday present" to himself. He has admitted
hiring her but insists he did not know she was underage.
"When a woman travels around Europe by plane, can you imagine thinking
for one second that she is a minor?" said his lawyer.
Real Madrid player Benzema is accused of sleeping with the teenager at
a hotel in Paris in 2008 when she was only 16, but he claims their
encounter never happened.
Six other men are also on trial, some accused of "aggravated pimping".
Neither of the footballers are expected to attend the case.
Algerian-born Zahia has made the most of her notoriety. "She has
become a celebrity in France since the allegations erupted, launching
a soft-porn website and her own brand of lingerie," reports The Sun.
Her mentor, Karl Lagerfeld, has said she reminds him of an
18th-century courtesan. ·
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