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Achraf Hakimi is to face trial for rape, the Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco defender confirmed via a social media post on Tuesday, going on to deny the allegation.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I deny it and everything proves it’s false,” wrote Hakimi. “This is as unjust to the innocent as it is to the genuine victims. I calmly await this trial, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
The Nanterre prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation in 2023 after an allegation of rape was made against the 27-year-old. The prosecutor confirmed on Tuesday that Hakimi’s case had been sent to trial.
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The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player. 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.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court. She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case but its treatment, in general, showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football.”
In a statement, Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, said: “A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness.”
PSG face Monaco on Wednesday in the return leg of their Champions League playoff tie. Last week’s first leg at Stade Louis II ended in a 3-2 victory for the reigning European champions. Hakimi was in the initial PSG squad list published last Tuesday.
Asked about the player, who was born in Spain to a Moroccan mother and joined PSG in 2021 after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan, Luis Enrique, PSG’s head coach, said in the pre-match press conference: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
