Considering himself the prisoner of a caricatured image, Karim Benzema, in his complaint for defamation filed against the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, sets the record straight.
“ For several years, we have noticed a slow drift in Karim Benzema’s positions towards a harsh, rigorous Islam, characteristic of the Brotherhood ideology consisting of disseminating Islamic norms in different areas of society, particularly in sport. “. Thus spoke Gérald Darmanin last October when discussing the 2022 Ballon d’Or, denouncing a “ notorious link » between the footballer and the Muslim Brotherhood. For these words, among others, the Minister of the Interior is now the subject of a defamation complaint.
Karim Benzema decided to launch proceedings against Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday, accusing the Minister of “ inaccurate and more likely false accusations, but in any case made on purpose », We can read in the complaint made by Me Viguier and revealed today by Le Parisien. KB9 denounces “ the indecent hypocrisy » of the one who thus throws a footballer to pasture while turning a blind eye to a Qatar “ whose proximity to the Muslim Brotherhood is indeed notorious in this case. »
“A petty and petty political opportunism”
Victim since the allegations of the Minister of the Interior of a “ outbreak of violence “, Karim Benzema sees it “ political opportunism that is small, petty, self-centered and indifferent to the consequences and in particular to the divisions it causes where we urgently need concord and humility to help achieve peaceful solutions “. He also regrets the caricatured label that is his in France, “ a kind of symbol of the youth of the cities, seen as immigrant, Muslim, hostile to France and anti-Semitic “.
“ Attacking me is, in the minds of many, attacking these young people seen in an undifferentiated manner and objects of hatred », insists Karim Benzema. Gérald Darmanin, for his part, has not yet publicly reacted to this complaint. If the latter results in the opening of a judicial investigation, then the Minister of the Interior will have to answer for his accusations before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only competent jurisdiction in the judgment of a minister in office . He would then face a fine of up to 12,000 euros.
