Paris: French football star Franck Ribery was handed preliminary charges on Tuesday for soliciting an underage prostitute, a judicial official said, in the latest blow for a national team that came home from the World Cup in disgrace and disarray last month.
Ribery and another French star, Karim Benzema, were questioned on Tuesday as part of a probe into a suspected network of prostitutes that operated out of a nightclub on Paris' glitzy Champs-Elysees, a judicial official told The Associated Press. She was not authorized to be publicly named according to office policy. Benzema was still answering questions.
The scandal, which broke before the World Cup and has been front-page news in France, includes allegations by a self-described escort girl who says Ribery flew her to visit him as a birthday present to himself when she was still under 18. Ribery is married with two children.
Zahia Dehar, now 18, has told French media that several football players on France's national team paid to have sex with her when she was a minor. She has said the players were not aware she was underage at the time.
Preliminary charges in France allow investigators further time to probe. Two other people — a player agent and a member of Ribery's family — were also detained for questioning Tuesday, a judicial official said on condition of anonymity.
Prostitution is legal in France, but prostitutes must be over 18 years old, and clients are liable if they are not. The case is in the investigation stage and four people were handed preliminary charges and put in detention in April before being freed.
Real Madrid striker Benzema and Bayern Munich forward Ribery could face up to three years in prison and a €45,000 ($60,000) fine if found guilty of paying to have sex with a minor. They are among the most famous footballers in France and had once been pinpointed as Zinedine Zidane's heirs in the national squad, though they have failed to deliver on their early promise.
Both players have denied any wrongdoing.
Ribery's lawyer Sophie Bottai said that for the player to be convicted he "would have had to know her age, which wasn't the case."
"She would have had to look like a minor, which wasn't the case, she would have to have told him she was a minor, which wasn't the case," Bottai said.
Benzema's lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Dehar said she had been paid for sex since the age of 16 when she began partying in Paris. She claimed she met Benzema at the nightclub and he bought her services, and alleged that Lyon and France forward Sidney Govou had, too.
She told Paris Match magazine that Ribery flew her to a hotel in Germany for the night as a birthday present to himself. The platinum blonde also posed for the magazine's cover wearing a baby doll dress with a plunging neckline and high heels.
Amid the scandal, Ribery, 27, was called up for the World Cup in South Africa, where France didn't progress past the first round following a string of below-par performances. Benzema was left out, with then-coach Raymond Domenech saying it was because of his unimpressive season.
The 22-year-old Benzema, who has scored eight goals in 27 appearances with France, was often left on the bench this season and scored only eight goals in the Spanish league after costing Madrid $44.4 million in 2009.
Ribery started his international career just before the 2006 World Cup, when France lost to Italy in the final, and quickly became a fan favorite.
Sporting two long scars on his face, relics of a car accident when he was 2, Ribery was praised for his good humor, while his live-wire skills helped him gain the esteem of stalwarts in the France team.
However, he failed to live up to expectations in South Africa, leading some to question whether he struggled to focus on football because of the scandal.
"Somebody has to tell him that he should leave his personal problems in the locker room," former Marseille coach Rolland Courbis said during the tournament.
Ribery's wife Wahiba is often seen in stadium's stands. Ribery converted to Islam, his wife's faith, and has often been seen praying before entering the field.
Benzema — who was born in Lyon to parents of Algerian descent — has always been very discreet about his private life.
In South Africa, France went out for the second consecutive tournament without winning a game after its first-round exit from Euro 2008.
The French team then endured a couple of days of chaos after L'Equipe newspaper published details of an expletive-filled rant by Nicolas Anelka at Domenech during one match, prompting the French federation to send the Chelsea star home.
The next day, the entire squad sat on the team bus, refusing to train in protest at Anelka's dismissal. France captain Patrice Evra had a lively altercation with the team's fitness coach on TV.
The events caused an outcry in France, with politicians harshly criticizing the players' attitude, legislators in parliament questioning the coach and even President Nicolas Sarkozy weighing in.
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