Ex-Marseille player Diawara sent back to court
Former Marseille defender Souleymane Diawara is expected to be tried in France for a case of extortion that saw him held in custody for two-and-a-half months in 2015, a judicial source said Thursday.
The 38-year-old was arrested in April 2015 on suspicion of trying to take the law into his own hands by attempting to recover 49,800 euros ($58,950) from a car dealer who allegedly sold him a stolen Porsche.
The former Ligue 1 title-winner, who also played in England for Charlton Athletic, went to the seller’s home with four others, including his brother Adama, in the middle of the night on March 19, 2015, in an attempt to retrieve the money.
In the presence of his wife and two daughters, they asked the seller for 50,000 euros before leaving with a BMW taken ‘as a pledge’, with the promise to return it if 10,000 euros were paid.
Diawara said the meeting had been peaceful and they had reached an agreement for the BMW.
The former Senegal international retired from professional football in September 2015 after leaving Nice.
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