French football player Kylian Mbappe listens to French President as he arrives for a lunch at the team's training camp, as part of the team's preparation for the UEFA Euro 2024 European football championships in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines on June 3, 2024. (Photo: AFP)
October 15, 2024
PARIS, France (AFP) — Kylian Mbappe was “shocked” to see his name linked to a Swedish rape investigation, his lawyer told AFP Tuesday.
The France captain, however, is “at ease” because “he has done nothing wrong”, lawyer Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard said.
A Swedish prosecutor said Tuesday that a rape investigation had been opened without mentioning Mbappe, following media reports that the Real Madrid and France star was the suspect following a visit with friends to Stockholm.
Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen, and public broadcaster SVT all reported that 25-year-old Mbappe was the target of the investigation, following his two-day visit to the Nordic capital last week.
Mbappe’s lawyer Canu-Bernard said the player was “not aware of the extent of the media frenzy, but is completely calm and does not understand what he could be accused of”.
“He is stunned to hear that it could concern him. He preferred to go to training and asked my office not to leave things as they are because it is impossible to let yourself be slandered and defamed in this way.
“This is the reason why we are going to file a complaint for libel.”
The lawyer said she could neither confirm nor deny claims in Swedish media that Mbappe was the suspect.
“We read the press,” Canu-Bernard said. “The Stockholm prosecutor’s office issued a statement, but it does not allow us to know whether Kylian Mbappe is the target.
“I therefore have no information allowing me to confirm whether this is indeed a complaint filed against him.”