French prosecutors have called for Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi to face trial for the alleged rape of a young woman in 2023.
The Morocco international, 26, has denied the charge.
The Nanterre prosecutor’s office said they had requested that the investigating judge refer the rape charge to a criminal court. “It is now up to the investigating magistrate to make a decision within the framework of his order,” the prosecutor’s office told AFP in a statement.
The woman, who claimed she had met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram, went to a police station following the encounter alleging rape. She refused to make a formal accusation, but prosecutors decided to press charges against the player.
According to police, the woman said she had travelled to Hakimi’s house in a taxi and that he started by kissing her and making non-consensual sexual advances, before raping her. She said she managed to break free to text a friend who came to pick her up.
Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin to AFP that the call by prosecutors is “incomprehensible and senseless in light of the case’s elements.” “If these requisitions were to be followed, we would obviously pursue all avenues of appeal,” she said.
Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer representing the woman, said “My client welcomes this news with immense relief,” per AFP.