The Versailles Court of Appeal made its decision this Friday just hours before the match: Achraf Hakimi, Morocco’s captain at the World Cup, will stand trial in France for rape. The court rejected the PSG full-back’s appeal and ordered his formal indictment, with the trial date still to be determined.
The complaint was filed in 2023 by a 24-year-old woman who said she had been raped at the player’s house on the outskirts of Paris. Her lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, harshly welcomed the ruling: she said her client had been “defamed and dragged through the mud” by Hakimi’s defense, and that the decision gave her “relief and hope”. The footballer’s defense, meanwhile, argued that in any other case the exculpatory evidence would have led to the case being dismissed.
Hakimi broke his silence on social media hours later. “Justice looked me in the eye and told me: if you weren’t famous, there never would have been a case”, the player wrote, describing himself as an “easy target” and saying that he is awaiting the trial “impatiently” so he can speak. Meanwhile, that same night he took the field in Boston to play against Scotland.