A French court has upheld a decision to put Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi on trial over an alleged rape, a judicial source told AFP on Wednesday.
Hakimi, 27, had appealed to France’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court for civil and criminal matters, after the Versailles appeals court upheld a decision in June for him to face trial.
The ruling marks Hakimi’s final legal avenue against the decision to send him before a criminal court in the Hauts-de-Seine department.
Hakimi was initially ordered to stand trial in February after being charged in connection with an alleged rape reported in 2023. He has repeatedly denied the allegation.
His lawyer, Fanny Colin, did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on Wednesday.
The complainant’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client remained determined to pursue the case.
“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,” Pardo said in a statement sent to AFP.
The case dates back to February 2023, when a 24-year-old woman reported to police in Val-de-Marne, southeast of Paris, that Hakimi had raped her.
According to information provided by a police source at the time, the woman said she had met Hakimi on Instagram in January 2023 before travelling by taxi to his home. She alleged that Hakimi kissed and touched her without consent before raping her.
She told investigators that she managed to push him away and sent a message to a friend, who subsequently came to pick her up.
Hakimi was charged with rape several days later.
The decision to proceed to trial does not determine Hakimi’s guilt or innocence, which will be decided by the criminal court.
