This Thursday, heavy sentences were handed down against the defendants in the case of the attempted extortion and the kidnapping of Paul Pogba dating from 2022. The fault is the media weight and the importance given to the footballer’s words, according to one of the lawyers in charge of the defense.
“His word may be considered more important than someone else’s.” Maître Daphné Pugliesi, lawyer for one of the six defendants in the Pogba trial, regretted the weight of Paul Pogba in the collective unconscious following the judgment rendered Thursday by the Paris court.
According to the defense of Roushdane K., sentenced to eight years of imprisonment which will force him to return to detention this Thursday, the media dimension of the footballer had a significant indirect role in the judgments which were rendered.
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“We would have thought that we were going to treat it like any file. But we cannot treat a file with a personality like that of Paul Pogba like any file, in reality,” said Me Daphné Pugliesi .
“This file was treated with some attention”
“The proof is, there were two prosecutors who were there, normally there is only one in this type of case. This case was treated with a certain attention since there is media coverage. So I think the sentences are probably a little harsher because of Paul Pogba’s notoriety.”
The latter also regretted the absence of the French international at his trial. “We had a lot of questions to ask him. He was a victim in this affair, there is no doubt about it. But he was very evolving in his statements. It could be because of trauma, or because we can have feelings towards someone… But his statements weighed enormously in a case where there are ultimately few charges, with the exception of his words.”
And Maître Pugliesi continued: “It is on the basis of guilt that, also taking into consideration the words of Paul Pogba in such a firm manner, the guilt would perhaps not have been upheld”.
Mathias Pogba’s lawyer plans to appeal “very harsh” decision
Also questioned at the end of the hearing, Maître Mbeko Tabula, lawyer for Mathias Pogba, confided that his client would probably appeal. One of Paul’s two twin brothers was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, with a modified sentence at home.
“He (Mathias) is obviously in shock. From the start, he has proclaimed his innocence. He says that he was manipulated, coerced, that he was pressured. That he would never have acted in a negative way towards his brother We did not take into consideration his vulnerability, the fact that he was forced to do things independently of his will. He was denied this reality, which is why he was condemned. .”
Romain Daveau Journalist RMC Sport
