Ribery, Benzema charged in under-age sex probe

Bayern Munich footballer Franck Ribery was charged with having had sex with an under-age prostitute yesterday, as magistrates cracked down on an alleged celebrity vice ring.

Ribery's French international team-mate Karim Benzema was also detained for questioning and later in the day charged over his alleged relations with the same teenage call girl.

Ribery, 27, arrived at the offices of the investigating magistrates in the Palace of Justice in Paris in handcuffs, according to several witnesses, but he was freed on bail shortly after the hearing.

Yesterday's indictment against Ribery and Benzema is the first stage of a formal judicial investigation that could lead to a trial and, if convicted, both players face three years in jail and a fine of €45,000.

Ribery appeared before investigating magistrate Andre Dando after having been detained by vice squad officers and questioned for six hours on a charge of having "solicited an under-age prostitute."

He has never denied having paid for sex with the young woman, blonde party girl Zahia Dehar, but his lawyer Sophie Bottai told reporters outside vice squad headquarters that he had had no idea that she was under-age.

The players were detained at the request of the magistrate, who is probing claims that a Champs Elysees nightclub gave clients access to minors working as call girls.

They were interrogated at the headquarters of France's BRP vice squad on the Ile de la Cite in central Paris for six hours, before Ribery was seen being taken in a police vehicle to the Palace of Justice. Benzema followed suit a few hours later.