A French court on Wednesday upheld a decision to send Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco footballer Achraf Hakimi to trial on a rape charge, a judicial source told AFP
An appeals court confirmed on June 19, during the World Cup, that Hakimi, 27, would stand trial in criminal court over the alleged rape of a woman in 2023, an accusation he has repeatedly denied
Hakimi had appealed that decision to the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the French judicial system for civil and criminal matters
The appeal was Hakimi’s final legal recourse In February, he was ordered to stand trial before the criminal court in the Hauts-de-Seine department on the rape charge.
Hakimi challenged that initial order and then appealed to the Court of Cassation after the Versailles appeals court upheld the decision in June
Contacted on Wednesday, Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment
“After three and a half years of legal battles, after being slandered and dragged through the mud by Achraf Hakimi’s defence, my client is determined to obtain justice; she will fight to the very end,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said in a statement sent to AFP
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in the Val-de-Marne region southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her
The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her
She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up
Hakimi was charged with rape a few days later