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| France prepares for Zahia trial: a tale of footballers, sex and the Paris catwalk | France prepares for Zahia trial: a tale of footballers, sex and the Paris catwalk |
| (4 months later) | |
| It's the story of the grimy underbelly of a late-night club near Paris's Champs Élysées, two football stars accused of paying an underaged teenager for sex, and a girl from a poor suburb who first made headlines as a child sex-worker, then found fame as a luxury underwear designer and protegee of the fashion world – which hailed her creations as "courtesan chic". | It's the story of the grimy underbelly of a late-night club near Paris's Champs Élysées, two football stars accused of paying an underaged teenager for sex, and a girl from a poor suburb who first made headlines as a child sex-worker, then found fame as a luxury underwear designer and protegee of the fashion world – which hailed her creations as "courtesan chic". |
| A court case that begins in Paris's criminal court on Tuesday will tackle one of the biggest scandals to hit French sport, as 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. | A court case that begins in Paris's criminal court on Tuesday will tackle one of the biggest scandals to hit French sport, as 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. |
| Known as the Zahia case, it threatens to reveal a culture of pimping in the French capital just as the Socialist government has expressed its aim to abolish prostitution. | Known as the Zahia case, it threatens to reveal a culture of pimping in the French capital just as the Socialist government has expressed its aim to abolish prostitution. |
| The saga began in 2009, when Paris police started investigating alleged pimping of women at the Zaman Café, a bar close to the Champs Élysées. While interviewing women suspected of being selected for clients, police realised one witness was underaged at the time of some of the alleged encounters. | The saga began in 2009, when Paris police started investigating alleged pimping of women at the Zaman Café, a bar close to the Champs Élysées. While interviewing women suspected of being selected for clients, police realised one witness was underaged at the time of some of the alleged encounters. |
| The witness, Zahia Dehar, told investigators she had had paid-for encounters with two of the biggest French international football stars: midfielder Franck Ribéry, in 2009, and the striker Karim Benzema, in 2008, both when she was under 18. | The witness, Zahia Dehar, told investigators she had had paid-for encounters with two of the biggest French international football stars: midfielder Franck Ribéry, in 2009, and the striker Karim Benzema, in 2008, both when she was under 18. |
| When the scandal broke, it tarnished the image of French football and upset the national team during their fraught 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa. But many in the sports world felt no charges would ever come to court against the players. | When the scandal broke, it tarnished the image of French football and upset the national team during their fraught 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa. But many in the sports world felt no charges would ever come to court against the players. |
| Dehar told investigators neither footballer had known her real age because she lied to them about it. Ribéry said he had not known she was underaged and Benzema denied any encounter took place. | Dehar told investigators neither footballer had known her real age because she lied to them about it. Ribéry said he had not known she was underaged and Benzema denied any encounter took place. |
| Initially the state prosecutor requested that the case against the footballers be dropped on the grounds they were't aware Dehar was under 18. But the investigating judge decided that Dehar had looked very young and lying about her age was not enough, and ordered the footballers to face trial next week. Soliciting a prostitute aged under 18 is a crime liable to three years in prison and a €45,000 (£38,000) fine. | Initially the state prosecutor requested that the case against the footballers be dropped on the grounds they were't aware Dehar was under 18. But the investigating judge decided that Dehar had looked very young and lying about her age was not enough, and ordered the footballers to face trial next week. Soliciting a prostitute aged under 18 is a crime liable to three years in prison and a €45,000 (£38,000) fine. |
| Both players have denied the charges, but the saga has dented the carefully crafted media image of Ribéry, one of France's biggest football stars. The Bayern Munich player had a seemingly unflappable image in France as a wholesome family man, who had escaped deprivation on a poor estate on the north coast of France and survived a childhood car crash, whose severe injuries after saw him nicknamed "Scarface". | Both players have denied the charges, but the saga has dented the carefully crafted media image of Ribéry, one of France's biggest football stars. The Bayern Munich player had a seemingly unflappable image in France as a wholesome family man, who had escaped deprivation on a poor estate on the north coast of France and survived a childhood car crash, whose severe injuries after saw him nicknamed "Scarface". |
| He had married his childhood sweetheart, converted to Islam and was seen to symbolise the mixed identities of France, and a father and husband devoted to his wife and children. Football crowds loved him, he seemed down to earth and principled. But in the investigation and magazine interviews, Dehar said she had been flown to a German hotel by Ribéry when she was 17, as his 26th "birthday present" to himself. Ribéry said he did not know at any point that she was underage. | He had married his childhood sweetheart, converted to Islam and was seen to symbolise the mixed identities of France, and a father and husband devoted to his wife and children. Football crowds loved him, he seemed down to earth and principled. But in the investigation and magazine interviews, Dehar said she had been flown to a German hotel by Ribéry when she was 17, as his 26th "birthday present" to himself. Ribéry said he did not know at any point that she was underage. |
| A lawyer for Benzema, who plays for Real Madrid, told the Guardian he categorically denied the charge against him. | A lawyer for Benzema, who plays for Real Madrid, told the Guardian he categorically denied the charge against him. |
| The criminal trial features six other defendants, including a former reality TV contestant, some of whom will be prosecuted for "aggravated pimping". In France, prostitution is legal but activities around it, including pimping, are not. | The criminal trial features six other defendants, including a former reality TV contestant, some of whom will be prosecuted for "aggravated pimping". In France, prostitution is legal but activities around it, including pimping, are not. |
| The footballers are not likely to appear in court, nor will Dehar herself. At 21 and now known simply as Zahia, she is famous as a luxury lingerie designer, staging elaborate catwalk shows during Paris fashion week. | The footballers are not likely to appear in court, nor will Dehar herself. At 21 and now known simply as Zahia, she is famous as a luxury lingerie designer, staging elaborate catwalk shows during Paris fashion week. |
| Described routinely in French magazines as a bimbo or the "micro-Bardot of the towerblocks", Dehar, who arrived in France from Algeria as a child after her parents' messy divorce, has now been taken under the wing of major fashion designers including Karl Lagerfeld, who said she was fascinating because she was a reminder of France's 18th century courtesans, the mistresses of the rich and powerful, "a purely French tradition that the whole world admired and copied". | Described routinely in French magazines as a bimbo or the "micro-Bardot of the towerblocks", Dehar, who arrived in France from Algeria as a child after her parents' messy divorce, has now been taken under the wing of major fashion designers including Karl Lagerfeld, who said she was fascinating because she was a reminder of France's 18th century courtesans, the mistresses of the rich and powerful, "a purely French tradition that the whole world admired and copied". |
| This week, Dehar invited Paris Match into her opulent offices and lingerie design studios as she promoted plans for a new underwear collection and a Paris teashop in her name. But the magazine said she cried at the thought of the trial. "I'm afraid of it all starting again. I don't want to go back to the stress I went through at that time." | This week, Dehar invited Paris Match into her opulent offices and lingerie design studios as she promoted plans for a new underwear collection and a Paris teashop in her name. But the magazine said she cried at the thought of the trial. "I'm afraid of it all starting again. I don't want to go back to the stress I went through at that time." |
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