The French footballer Karim Benzema has filed a defamation case against France’s far-right leader Eric Zemmour for statements in which he linked him to Islamist murders committed in France. Radio station ‘RMC Sports’ reported that the French lawyer, Hugues Vigier, filed a complaint on Friday afternoon at the Paris Judicial Court.
If the lawsuit is accepted for processing, Zemmour faces a sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, if found guilty, RMC Sports added. Zemmour, president of the far-right Reconquete (Reconquista) party, established a link between Benzema and the terrorist murders of two high school teachers, Samuel Paty in 2020 and Dominique Bernard in 2023.
In a televised interview in October, Zemmour said that Benzema “is a Muslim who wants to apply ‘sharia’ (Islamic law), and that ‘sharia’ gives rise to ‘jihad’ (holy war), and the ‘jihad’ means “Killing Dominique Bernard means killing Samuel Paty.”
Benzema had already filed a complaint last Tuesday against the French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, who in another television interview, in October, considered Benzema’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that in some countries are considered terrorist. not in France, where it’s not illegal either.
In the 92-page lawsuit, the minister is accused of creating division in France with his remarks and causing harm to the children of the soccer player, who says there is “no connection” to the Muslim Brotherhood. “When the intention is not to import the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into France, it cannot be understood that there is a risk of igniting the flames with false statements,” said the footballer’s lawyers.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
