Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi will stand trial over a rape allegation after France’s highest court rejected his final appeal on Wednesday, clearing the way for proceedings before a criminal court in the Hauts-de-Seine department.
According to French sports newspaper L’Équipe, the Cour de cassation rejected Hakimi’s appeal, finding that there were no serious grounds to admit it. A judicial source told AFP that the court followed the advice of the rapporteur and the conclusions of the advocate general.
Hakimi’s lawyer before the Cour de cassation, Bertrand Périer, confirmed the decision.
“The Cour de cassation has rejected Achraf Hakimi’s appeal, judging that no serious means were of a nature to allow its admission,” Périer said, adding that the decision was in line with the opinions presented by the rapporteur and advocate general.
The complainant’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client remained determined to pursue the case after more than three and a half years.
“After three and a half years of judicial combat, after having been slandered and dragged through the mud by Achraf Hakimi’s defence, my client is determined to obtain justice, she will fight to the end,” Pardo said.
She added that her client hoped the trial would encourage other women to come forward and contribute to greater scrutiny of sexual violence and alleged impunity in men’s football.
Hakimi’s other lawyer, Fanny Colin, stressed that the Cour de cassation had not examined the merits of the rape allegation and that the evidence would be considered during the trial.
“The facts reproached to Achraf Hakimi, which he has firmly contested from the first day, have not been examined by the Cour de cassation. They will be during the trial, in the course of which all the elements in defence of Mr Achraf Hakimi will be publicly and contradictorily presented,” Colin said.
She also alleged that the complainant’s side had obstructed efforts to establish the facts, citing what she described as the concealment of messages referring to a plan to “strip” Hakimi, refusal to identify a key witness, refusal to undergo medical examinations and refusal to provide access to the complainant’s phone.
“Mr Hakimi, who has nothing to hide, has for his part fully cooperated with the police and judicial authorities and will continue to do so on the occasion of the forthcoming trial,” Colin said.
The case dates back to February 2023, when a 24-year-old woman accused Hakimi of raping her at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt after the pair met on Instagram and she visited him one evening.
Hakimi, who is also captain of Morocco, has consistently denied the allegation, maintaining that the encounter was consensual.
An investigating judge ordered Hakimi to stand trial in February 2026, a decision that was upheld by the Versailles Court of Appeal in June.
Hakimi subsequently appealed to the Cour de cassation, France’s highest court for criminal and civil matters. With that appeal now rejected, the case will proceed to trial.
