Why former AS Monaco striker Wissam Ben Yedder is avoiding detention while awaiting trial

Why former AS Monaco striker Wissam Ben Yedder is avoiding detention while awaiting trial

Former AS Monaco captain Wissam Ben Yedder, who is due to be tried on October 15 for sexual assault and is still being prosecuted for rape in another case, will not be placed in pre-trial detention.

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The 34-year-old French striker, who left AS Monaco at the end of last season, is due to be tried on October 15 for sexual assault and remains charged with rape in another case.

Wissam Ben Yedder will not be placed in pre-trial detention, AFP learned this Wednesday from the public prosecutor’s office of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal. The striker, without a club since the expiry of his contract with Monaco, was arrested on the night of September 6 to 7 while driving in Cap d’Ail, a town bordering the Principality.

A young woman in her twenties had just filed a complaint against him for sexual assault that evening. After his police custody, he was summoned to stand trial on October 15 for “sexual assault while clearly intoxicated, refusal to comply and driving under the influence of alcohol.”

In the meantime, a psychological assessment of the victim must be carried out, and the player has been placed under judicial supervision.

But the prosecution had appealed this decision by the judge of liberties and detention (JLD), citing “real risks of leakage“and ensuring that the pre-trial detention was”the only way to avoid any risk of pressure on the victim or witnesses” but also “to prevent the repetition of the facts”.

On September 18, the investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal rejected the appeal, considering that the strict measures of judicial supervision were sufficient: prohibition on leaving home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., obligation to seek treatment, reporting twice a week to the police station, prohibition on leaving the department, etc.

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 bail of 900,000 euros.

Launched in professional football in Toulouse, Ben Yedder played in Seville before arriving in 2019 in Monaco, where he became the second best scorer in history. He has 19 selections in the French team.

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