PARIS (AP) — A brother of World Cup winner Paul Pogba was sentenced to three years in prison — two of which are suspended — by a Paris criminal court Thursday in an extortion and kidnapping case.
Mathias Pogba has already spent time in detention and the remainder of the sentence will be served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. This sentence was in line with the prosecution’s request. His lawyer said he would likely appeal the ruling.
“He is in a state of shock. From the outset, he has maintained his innocence," lawyer Mbeko Tabula said. “They did not not take into account the fact that he has been manipulated, the fact that he has been forced to do things beyond his control.”
The case in court took place without the former Manchester United and Juventus player.
A judge ordered Mathias Pogba and five other men to stand trial following an investigation into whether Paul Pogba was the target of extortion by Mathias and childhood friends in 2022.
Mathias went on trial last month “for the offenses of attempted extortion and criminal conspiracy."
The five others demanded 13 million euros ($13.6 million) from the France midfielder, who was held up at gunpoint by hooded men in March 2022. The defendants repeatedly intimidated Paul, claiming he should have supported them after he became an international soccer star. They were accused of extortion, abduction and confinement to facilitate a crime, as well as criminal conspiracy.
Roushdane K., suspected of masterminding the blackmail, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The others also received jail terms.
According to the legal documents, the court also found that Paul had suffered economic losses of 197,000 euros ($204,000) and moral losses of 50,000 euros ($52,000). It ordered all the defendants except Mathias to jointly pay this sum to the former Juve player.
During the investigation, Paul said he paid 100,000 euros ($104,000) to the organized group including his brother.
The case became public after Mathias posted threats on social media to share “explosive” revelations about his brother, fellow French star Kylian Mbappé and Paul’s agent Rafaela Pimenta. Mathias was also a soccer player who spent most of his career with lower-tier teams in Europe.
Once one of the world’s top midfielders, Paul has made the headlines in recent years more often for his off-field problems than for his sporting ability.
This month, Juventus said it came to “a mutual agreement” with Paul to cancel his contract despite the France World Cup winner having a ban for doping slashed last month. The Serie A club never seemed overly enthusiastic about welcoming Paul back after his four-year ban for doping was reduced to 18 months following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Paul will be free to resume his career in March.
Paul tested positive for testosterone in August last year and was handed the maximum punishment by Italy’s anti-doping court.
But CAS judges cut Paul’s ban as they acknowledged a lack of intent and said his positive test was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida. Paul’s contract with Juventus was set to expire in June 2026.
In 2016, Paul became the then-most expensive soccer player in history when he joined Man United from Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros ($116 million).
He starred in France’s World Cup triumph in 2018 but returned to Juventus as a free agent in 2022. Injuries limited him to just eight Serie A appearances in his second spell at the club before his ban last year.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Juventus' Paul Pogba controls the ball during an Italian Cup soccer match between Internazionale and Juventus, at the Giuseppe Meazza San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, April 26, 2023. (Spada/LaPresse via AP, File)
FILE - Soccer players Mathias Pogba, left, and Paul Pogba pose for photographers upon arrival at the MTV European Music Awards 2017 in London, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila's international airport Tuesday on order of the International Criminal Court in connection with a case of crime against humanity filed against him, the Philippine government said.
Duterte was arrested after arriving from Hong Kong and police took him into custody on orders of the ICC, which has been investigating the mass killings that happened under the former president's deadly crackdown against illegal drugs, President Ferdinand Marcos' office said in a statement.
“Upon his arrival, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to the former president for the crime of crime against humanity,” the government said. “He’s now in the custody of authorities."
The surprise arrest sparked a commotion at the airport, where lawyers and aides of Duterte loudly protested that they, along with a doctor and lawyers, were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody. “This is a violation of his constitutional right,” Sen. Bong Go, a close Duterte ally. told reporters.
The warrant of arrest sent by the ICC to Philippine officials, a copy of which was seen by The AP, said “there are reasonable grounds to believe that" the attack on victims "was both widespread and systematic: the attack took place over a period of several years and thousands people appear to have been killed.”
Duterte’s arrest was necessary “to ensure his appearance before the court,” according to the March 7 warrant, adding that the former president was expected to ignore a court summons.
It said that although Duterte was no longer president, he “appears to continue to wield considerable power.”
“Mindful of the resultant risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims, the chamber is satisfied that the arrest of Mr. Duterte is necessary.”
Duterte's arrest and downfall stunned and drove families of the victims of his bloody crackdowns against illegal drugs to tears.
“This is a big, long-awaited day for justice,” Randy delos Santos, the uncle of a teenager killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017 in the Manila metropolis, told The Associated Press.
“Now we feel that justice is rolling. We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished,” delos Santos said.
Three of the police officers who killed his nephew, Kian delos Santos, were convicted in 2018 for the high-profile murder, which prompted Duterte at the time to temporarily suspend his brutal anti-drugs crackdown.
The conviction was one of at least three, so far, against law enforcers involved in the anti-drugs campaign, reflecting the concerns of families of victims of suspected extrajudicial killings that they would not get justice in the Philippines, hence, their decision to seek the help of the ICC.
It was not immediately clear where Duterte was taken by the police and when he would be flown to Europe to be handed to ICC custody. The government said the 79-year-old former leader was in good health.
The ICC began investigating drug killings under Duterte from Nov. 1, 2011, when he was still mayor of the southern city of Davao, to March 16, 2019, as possible crimes against humanity. Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the Rome Statute in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability.
The Duterte administration moved to suspend the global court’s investigation in late 2021 by arguing that Philippine authorities were already looking into the same allegations, arguing the ICC — a court of last resort — didn’t have jurisdiction.
Appeals judges at the ICC ruled in 2023 the investigation could resume and rejected the Duterte administration’s objections. Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the ICC can step in when countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute suspects in the most heinous international crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022 and became entangled in a bitter political dispute with the former president, has decided not to rejoin the global court. But the Marcos administration has said it would cooperate if the ICC asks international police to take Duterte into custody through a so-called Red Notice, a request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a crime suspect.
Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.
FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his final State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Philippines on July 26, 2021. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte checks the scope of a Chinese-made CS/LR4A sniper rifle during the presentation of thousands of rifles and ammunition by China to the Philippines at Clark Airbase in northern Philippines on June 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte jokes to photographers as he holds an Israeli-made Galil rifle at Camp Crame in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines on April 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
FILE - Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte takes oath during a senate inquiry on the so-called war on drugs during his administration at the Philippine Senate, on Oct. 28, 2024, in Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila,File)
Security officials stand outside Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Supporters rally outside Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte arrives inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Media waits outside Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Security officials stand at Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
FILE - Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers questions during a joint committee hearing of the House of Representatives investigating the war on drugs during his administration in Quezon City, Philippines on Nov. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
FILE- Lawyer Jude Sabio from the Philippines stands for a photo as he holds a 77-page file outside the International Criminal Court asking to investigate his country's president Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Mike Corder, File)
Supporters rally outside Villamor Air Base after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte arrives inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte cheer during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for him in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte waits for his arrival at a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers as Filipino actor, Robin Padilla arrives in a car in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte waits for his arrival at a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte waits for his arrival at a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
A supporter of former President Rodrigo Duterte reacts upon finding out he was arrested, at the airport in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Security officers patrol the airport after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte cheer during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for him in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
Supporters of former populist President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte waits for his arrival at a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen)
A supporter of former President Rodrigo Duterte reacts upon finding out he was arrested, at the airport in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Security officers patrol the airport after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Security officers patrol the airport after former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
FILE - Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte speaks inside the Southorn Stadium during a thanksgiving gathering organized by Hong Kong-based Filipino workers for the former populist president in Hong Kong on March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen, File)
