PSG star Achraf Hakimi set to face trial on rape allegation

PSG's Achraf Hakimi (AP Photo)

Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi will go on trial in France after being accused of rape, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP on Tuesday. In February 2023, a 24-year-old woman told police in the Val-de-Marne area near Paris that Hakimi raped her. Hakimi, who is now 27, strongly denies the accusation.

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He wrote on social media that he is calm about the trial and believes it will show that he is innocent. "Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false," he wrote on X on Tuesday. "I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly." Hakimi's lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it. "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," Colin said. According to earlier police information, the woman said she met Hakimi on Instagram in January 2023. She went to his house in a taxi he ordered. She said he kissed and touched her without consent and then raped her. She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who picked her up. PSG coach Luis Enrique, when asked about it at a Tuesday press conference ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: "This matter is in the hands of the authorities." Hakimi continues to train with the team and is expected to play in their upcoming match against Monaco. The woman’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client feels relieved that the case will go 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," she added. Hakimi was born in Spain to Moroccan parents. He started his career at Real Madrid and made his senior debut in 2017. He was part of the squad when Real Madrid won the 2017–18 Champions League. He later played for Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. Hakimi was also one of Morocco’s key players when they reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first African and Arab team to do so.

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