French footballer in xxx probe

PARIS - A FRENCH judge issued preliminary charges on Tuesday against footballer Franck Ribery for soliciting an underage prostitute - the latest blow for a national team that returned from the World Cup in disgrace and disarray.

Ribery and another top French footballer, Karim Benzema, were questioned on Tuesday as part of a probe into a suspected network of prostitutes that operated out of a nightclub on Paris' Champs-Elysees, a judicial official told The Associated Press. She was not authorised to be publicly named according to office policy. Benzema was still answering questions.

The scandal, which broke before the World Cup, includes allegations by a self-described escort girl who says Ribery flew her to visit him as a birthday present to himself when she was still under 18. Ribery is married with two children.

Zahia Dehar,(pic above) now 18, has told French media that several football players on France's national team paid to have xxx with her when she was a minor. She has said the players were not aware she was underage at the time. Preliminary charges in France allow investigators further time to probe. Two other people - a player agent and a member of Ribery's family - were also detained for questioning on Tuesday, a judicial official said on condition of anonymity.

Prostitution is legal in France, but prostitutes must be over 18 years old, and clients are liable if they are not. The case is in the investigation stage and four people were issued with preliminary charges and put in detention in April before being freed. Real Madrid striker Benzema and Bayern Munich forward Ribery could face up to three years in prison and a 45,000 euros (S$79,700) fine if found guilty of paying to have xxx with a minor. They are among the most famous footballers in France. Both players have denied any wrongdoing.

Ribery's lawyer Sophie Bottai said that for the player to be convicted he 'would have had to know her age, which wasn't the case.' 'She would have had to look like a minor, which wasn't the case, she would have to have told him she was a minor, which wasn't the case,' Ms Bottai said. Benzema's lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. -- AP