The Paris criminal court ruled this Thursday. While this Pogba trial, opened on November 26, was to determine whether the six defendants were collateral victims or guilty, as part of the resounding case of kidnapping of Paul Pogba, the judgment was rendered at the beginning of the afternoon. All prosecuted, the big brother of the former Manchester United and Juventus player, Mathias Pogba, as well as five of his childhood friends, were sentenced to sentences ranging from one year to eight years of imprisonment. .
Mathias Pogba, the most famous defendant in the gang, received 3 years of imprisonment, including 2 years with a simple suspended sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros, with an adjustment to the sentence at home under a bracelet. electronic.
Up to 8 years in prison for ex-friend Roushdane
The victim’s former friends, Boubacar C. (4 years of imprisonment including 2 years suspended), Machikour K. (4 years of imprisonment including 3 years suspended), Mamadou M. (5 years of imprisonment including 12 month’s suspended sentence), Roushdane K. (8 years’ imprisonment with continued detention) and Adama C. (5 years’ imprisonment with a committal warrant) were all sentenced more harshly than Mathias Pogba.
Blackmail, pressure and the culmination of this kidnapping in March 2022, under the threat of firearms, with the aim of extracting 13 million euros from the midfielder of the France team, were accused of the six defendants during the trial.
“An active role” to harm Paul Pogba
This Pogba affair was revealed after the broadcast of videos on Mathias Pogba’s social networks in August 2022, in which he notably accused his brother Paul of having marabouted footballer Kylian Mbappé. “How can a brother and friends come together to recover extraordinary sums from one of the most precious people in their lives? », asked one of the prosecutors, before delivering her indictment on December 4.
Against Mathias Pogba, the prosecution had requested one year in prison under an electronic bracelet and a fine of 10,000 euros. For the public prosecutor, the footballer’s eldest child “was not aware of the beginnings of the sequestration project” but he is accused of having joined the group and played “an active role” in harming Paul Pogba and attempting to extract the 13 million euros from him.
Against the five other defendants, the prosecutors had requested up to eight years in prison, fines of 20,000 euros and a ban on carrying a weapon for ten years. During the three hours of indictment, the prosecutors also mentioned the generosity of Paul Pogba, “the friend who succeeded” and who financed the purchase of the restaurant of two defendants, made transfers of several thousand euros, or even offers 100,000 euros to each of his close friends and brothers for their birthday.
“Childhood friends were thrown out to pasture”
“You created a situation of financial dependence for him” which “damaged your friendship”, denounced the public prosecutor. In their pleadings, the defense lawyers argued that their clients had been victims of attacks during the months following the confinement of Paul Pogba. One of them, Roushdane K. who appeared detained, said he was shot at point blank range in one hand, so that he could put “pressure on Paul” who did not pay.
Our file on Paul Pogba
Another central argument of the defense: an investigation and a trial carried out against it, based according to it solely on the statements of Paul Pogba, who did not wish to attend the hearings. “We threw childhood friends out to pasture under the pretext that if Paul says something, it’s true…”, lamented Me Karim Morand-Lahouazi, lawyer for Adama C. Throughout this trial, Paul Pogba’s friends highlighted the deep friendship which linked them to the player, some since kindergarten, in the town of Renardière in Roissy-en-Brie (Seine-et-Marne). A link which did not allow the six defendants to avoid heavy sentences this Thursday.
