French prosecutors want Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) footballer Achraf Hakimi to go on trial for allegedly raping a 24-year-old woman in 2023. Hakimi, 26, has denied the accusation.
On Friday, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office told AFP that they had asked the investigating judge to send the case to a criminal court.
“It is now up to the investigating magistrate to make a decision,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The case began in February 2023, when the woman went to a police station and claimed that Hakimi raped her at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris. She said Hakimi paid for her taxi ride to his house while his wife and children were away. She told police he began kissing her and made sexual advances she did not agree to, before allegedly raping her.
The woman said she later texted a friend who came to pick her up. Although she did not file a formal complaint, prosecutors decided to press charges.
Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, called the decision “incomprehensible and senseless.”
She said, “We, along with Achraf Hakimi, remain as calm as we were at the start of the proceedings.”
Colin also claimed that Hakimi had been the target of an “attempted extortion.”
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However, the woman’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, disagreed.
“Nothing in this case suggests an attempted extortion. My client welcomes this news with immense relief,” she said.
Pardo added, “We will not tolerate any smear or destabilisation campaign, as is unfortunately still too often the case for women who have the courage to report rape.”
Hakimi is a Moroccan international footballer known for helping PSG win their first UEFA Champions League title. He scored the opening goal in their 5-0 final win against Inter Milan in May 2023. He also played a key role in Morocco’s historic journey to the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the first African or Arab team to do so.
Born in Spain to Moroccan parents, Hakimi rose through the youth system at Real Madrid, then played for Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan before joining PSG in 2021. He remains an important part of the PSG team.
The judge will now decide whether the case should move forward to trial.