Achraf Hakimi, a Moroccan football player for Paris Saint-Germain, has been asked to face trial by French authorities for a rape he claims he did not commit in 2023. According to the prosecutor’s office in Nanterre, the investigating judge has been asked to send the matter to a criminal court.
The prosecutor’s office told AFP in a statement that the investigating magistrate now has the responsibility to decide within the parameters of his order.
In March 2023, 26-year-old Hakimi was accused of raping a 24-year-old lady. She alleges that on February 25, he invited her to his house in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he reportedly abused her. Prosecutors filed charges against the football star despite the fact that she never submitted a formal complaint.
At the time, she admitted to authorities that she had met Hakimi on Instagram in January 2023. She said that on the relevant night, Hakimi had paid for her cab ride to his place.
According to a police source who spoke to AFP at the time, she informed authorities that Hakimi had begun kissing her and making unwanted sexual attempts before raping her. She said that she was able to text a friend who had come to get her.
The woman’s attorney applauded the trial request as a relief, but Hakimi’s attorney, Fanny Colin, denounced it as “incomprehensible.”
“We, along with Achraf Hakimi, remain as calm as we were at the start of the proceedings. She said. “If these requisitions were to be followed, we would obviously pursue all avenues of appeal”
The 26-year-old full-back Hakimi scored the opening goal in PSG’s 5-0 thumping of Inter Milan in the May final, and he was instrumental in the team’s route to their first Champions League triumph. Hakimi also helped Morocco make a remarkable run to the 2022 World Cup semifinals.
