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Enlarge PhotoSophie Bottai (R), lawyer of French soccer player Franck Ribery, speaks to the media as... French police investigating a prostitution network questioned soccer stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema in custody on Tuesday about alleged soliciting of sex with a minor, a police source said.The police had postponed the hearing at the Paris vice squad until after the World Cup, in which Ribery, a winger for Bayern Munich, was part of France's disastrous campaign.
French media have suggested the players were clients of a nightclub in Paris's Champs-Elysees upscale district that allegedly featured escorts, including the under-18 girl, Zahia Dehar, at the centre of the affair.
Local television station i-Tele said the two had been presented to a magistrate who will now decide whether to place them under judicial investigation, or free without charge.
The scandal, which gripped France ahead of the World Cup, took a new twist in late April when the young woman at the centre of the case gave a lengthy interview to Paris Match magazine, implicating players and denying being a prostitute.
She said Ribery had invited her to Munich in April 2009 to celebrate his 26th birthday in a luxury hotel, adding that he had paid her for three encounters last year. According to French law, paid sex with someone under 18 is deemed sex with a minor.
Zahia, who turned 18 in February, confirmed widespread reports in the French press that she was underage when she met Ribery, but added that she had not informed him about her age.
Ribery's lawyer Sophie Bottai told reporters on Tuesday that for her client to be found guilty the girl "would have had to look like a minor and that was not the case and ... had informed him that she was under age, which was not the case."
The offence carries a penalty of three years in prison and a 45,000 euro fine ($58,390), although a conviction hinges on proving the accused knew the minor's age.
Zahia "said in all the press that she told him (Ribery) and others that she was an adult," Bottai added.
Ribery was France's most popular player before the World Cup fiasco, in which 'Les Bleus' were eliminated in the first round without winning a match, and he took part in a revolt by players who boycotted a training session before their final game.
The police source added Ribery's brother-in-law and Benzema's agent were also in custody over the incident. Police custody can last 48 hours before a judge must make a decision.
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Benzema's lawyer told France 24 television on Tuesday his client was being heard as a witness.
The Real Madrid striker, who was excused from training by his club on Tuesday for personal reasons, told French radio in April he had done nothing wrong.
France striker Sidney Govou, who has just moved from Lyon to Panathinaikos of Greece, was also questioned by police along with Ribery in April about the escort girls' network. Another France international Hatem Ben Arfa was questioned as a witness earlier in July.
The "Zahia affair" will do little to improve the image of a battered French squad after the team looked lost on the pitch in South Africa and tarnished their reputation with bickering and scandals off it.
Laurent Blanc was officially appointed France coach at the start of the month with the mission to restore the team's pride after their World Cup performance.
Blanc will pick his first team for a friendly in Norway on August 11 with the 22-year old Benzema expected to be part of the new generation.
(Additional reporting by Nicolas Bertin and Vicky Buffery; writing by John Irish; editing by Paul Taylor and Jon Hemming)
(For more news on Reuters India, click http://in.reuters.com)
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