The Court of Appeal of Versailles has confirmed this Friday that Moroccan footballer Achraf Hakimi will be tried in France for rape. The judicial resolution comes after the definitive rejection of the appeal that the Moroccan international had filed against his prosecution, affirming the judge's decision that there are sufficient indications for the case to be heard in a criminal court.
This decision puts an end to a series of legal maneuvers that began when the prosecution requested the trial in the summer of 2025, a process that the PSG defender attempted to halt unsuccessfully through appeals filed in February and May of this year.
The events attributed to the athlete date back to the early morning of February 25, 2023. According to the complaint filed at the Nogent-sur-Marne police station, a young woman —who met Hakimi through Instagram that same year— went to the player's home, located on the outskirts of Paris, around 1:15 AM. At that time, the footballer was alone in his residence due to an injury, while his then-wife, actress Hiba Abouk, and their children were on vacation in Dubai.
According to the victim's harrowing testimony, the encounter led to a sexual assault that included non-consensual kissing and a "penetration with fingers" despite her explicit refusal. The complainant was particularly emphatic during her court hearing, stating: "He behaved like an animal, showed no tenderness, seemed desperate for sex".
According to her account, she was only able to escape after kicking the footballer, at which point she sent a text message to a friend asking for help.
