Karim Benzema’s complaint against Gérald Darmanin for defamation closed – Libération

The 2022 Golden Ball had been targeted by the Minister of the Interior who accused him of maintaining “notorious” links with the Muslim Brotherhood. The player filed a complaint for defamation, denying having the slightest link with this organization.

Gérald Darmanin will not be convicted for having defamed Karim Benzema. The complaint of the former striker of the French team against the Minister of the Interior has been closed without further action, announced this Thursday the Attorney General the Court of Cassation, Rémy Heitz. The requests commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) “retains that Mr. Benzema’s complaint”, received on January 16, “relates to comments which do not attribute to him any facts which or likely to harm his honor or his consideration,” we can read in the press release.

The 2022 Golden Ball was targeted by Gérald Darmanin after publishing in mid-October on “Unjust bombings” carried out by Israel in retaliation for the bloody Hamas attack of October 7. The Minister of the Interior had argued that this position could be explained by Karim Benzema’s links with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization born in Egypt, where it is considered e as a “terrorist”. “Karim Benzema has notorious links, as we all know, with the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said on the CNews channel, triggering a storm on social networks.

For Me Hugues Vigier, Karim Benzema’s counsel, Gérald Darmanin’s remarks “undermine” his honor and his consideration. He therefore filed a complaint in mid-January before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) because it is the only jurisdiction authorized to prosecute and judge members of the government for offenses committed in the ™exercise of their functions.

In his complaint, Karim Benzema, who today plays in the Saudi club Al-Ittihad and displays his Muslim faith, reaffirms “never having had the slightest link with the organization of the Fr res Muslims nor [sa] acquaintance with someone who would ask for it.” “I realize to what extent I am, because of my notoriety, instrumentalized in political games that are all the more scandalous since the dramatic events since October 7 deserve anything other than this type of declaration,” he adds.

Contacted in October, the minister’s entourage cited a “slow drift in Karim Benzema’s positions towards a hard, rigorous Islam, characteristic of Brotherhood ideology.” He also recalled Karim Benzema’s refusal to sing the national anthem when he played in the colors of France or his “proselytism on social networks”.