Achraf Hakimi to be tried for rape

He Supreme Court French confirmed this Wednesday the sending to oral trial against the Moroccan defense of Paris Saint-Germain Achraf Hakimiaccused of rape by a young woman in 2023, so there is no longer any recourse for the footballer to avoid sitting in the dock.

The highest French judicial instance rejected the appeal presented by the Moroccan international’s lawyers against the decision handed down on June 19, in full World Cup of the United States, Mexico and Canadafor him Versailles Court of Appeal.

Hakimi was accused by a young woman who came to his home in Boulogne-Billancourt, on the outskirts of Paris, of rapefacts that the footballer has always denied.

With this decision, the player, born in Madrid 27 years ago, he will sit in the dock in a Criminal Court of the Hauts-de-Seine departmentpossibly in Nanterrein a process that has not yet set a date.

Mbappé, possible witness

The attacker of Real Madrid Kylian Mbappé He could be called as a witness in this trial, because his testimony was already presented by the defense to try to demonstrate the consent of the relations that the footballer had with the complainant.

“After three and a half years of judicial combat, after having been slandered and dragged by Achraf Hakimi’s defense, my client is convinced that justice will be done, she will fight to the end,” said the complainant’s lawyer. Rachel-Flore Pardoin a statement sent to EFE.

The lawyer stated that his client hopes that “this process will help other women and will further break the strength of denial and impunity for sexual violence, even in the world of professional football.”

The facts according to the complainant

Hakimi and the complainant met through social networks and, after months of messages, they made an appointment at her home in February 2023.

According to the complaint, the soccer player kissed her on the lips despite her rejection, lifted her clothes and kissed her breasts and even inserted his fingers into her vagina, despite her resistance.

The girl, then 24 years old, said she managed to get rid of her attacker with a kick and sent a message to a friend, who came looking for her.

Hakimi’s version

Hakimi has denied any act of penetration from the beginning, admitting only mutual hugs and exchanges of consensual kisses.

To support its story, the defense presented the testimony of Mbappé, then a teammate of his at PSG and with whom the Spanish-Moroccan had spoken on the night of the events and who was interrogated by investigators on April 14, 2023.

The striker then claimed that Hakimi had told him that they had kissed and that he had touched “his private parts”, without ever feeling rejection on his part.

Those words motivated the instructor to initially order the Moroccan to be sent to trial, assuring that it supported the complainant’s story.

His defense filed an appeal and provided new elements, such as a letter from Mbappé in which he qualified his initial testimony, ensuring that what Hakimi had told him was that he had touched “intimate parts” and not “his private parts”, which eliminated the sexual undertone.

But that nuance did not help the Court of Appeal to eliminate the order sending the footballer to trial.