former French football team player Wissam Ben Yedder escapes pre-trial detention – Libération

This Wednesday, September 18, the courts rejected the request for pre-trial detention of the 34-year-old attacker, accused of sexual assault and already indicted for rape in another case. Pending his trial on October 15, the person concerned remains under judicial supervision.

Wissam Ben Yedder will not sleep in prison, or at least not right away. The investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal rejected this Wednesday, September 18, the request for placement in pre-trial detention of the former striker of the French football team, made by the public prosecutor of Nice. She ordered strict judicial control to be maintained until his trial on October 15 – twice-weekly attendance, ban on leaving his home between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., ban on attending nightclubs and bars. of drinks – targeting the 34-year-old player, prosecuted for sexual assault and also indicted in another case for rape.

Parking souterrain

On the morning of September 7, the footballer, without a club since his departure from AS Monaco this summer, was arrested at the wheel of his car in Cap-d’Ail (Alpes-Maritimes), just next to the principality, in following a complaint filed by a young woman in her twenties accusing him of sexual assault earlier in the evening.

The events allegedly took place in Wissam Ben Yedder’s vehicle, in an underground parking lot where the latter would have driven the young woman, according to the story of the Team. “The complainant thinks the door is locked, does not dare to go out, the footballer goes to the back seat, puts a hand on her thigh, tries to pull her towards him to kiss her, then allegedly begins to masturbate,” reports the sports daily, which specifies that Wissam Ben Yedder was “very alcoholic” and that he tried to escape being arrested by the police.

On October 15, the striker who played for Toulouse and Monaco, who is among the top scorers in the French championship in the 21st century, will be judged for “sexual assault while clearly intoxicated, refusal to comply and driving under the influence of alcohol.” The person concerned admits to the traffic offenses but denies the accusations of sexual assault. In the summer of 2023, he was indicted for “rape, attempted rape and sexual assault” in another case and had already been placed under judicial supervision, after having paid a deposit of 900,000 euros. He was also sentenced in 2023 by the Seville court, where he played for three years, to six months suspended prison sentence and a fine of more than 130,000 euros for tax evasion.