Achraf Hakimi To Stand Trial After France’s Top Court Rejects Appeal

Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi will stand trial over an allegation of rape after France’s highest court rejected his final appeal earlier today, September 23.

The Cour de cassation ruled that there were no serious grounds to admit the appeal, clearing the way for proceedings before a criminal court in the Hauts-de-Seine department.

Hakimi’s lawyer, Bertrand Périer, confirmed the decision, saying: “The Cour de cassation has rejected Achraf Hakimi’s appeal, judging that no serious means were of a nature to allow its admission, in accordance with the opinion of the rapporteur and the conclusions of the 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 help other women and challenge what she described as denial and impunity surrounding sexual violence in men’s football.

Hakimi’s other lawyer, Fanny Colin, stressed that the Cour de cassation had not examined the merits of the allegation. She said 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.

The case dates back to February 2023, when a then 24-year-old woman accused Hakimi of raping her at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt after they met on Instagram.

Hakimi, who is also Morocco’s captain, has consistently denied the allegation and said the encounter was consensual. An investigating judge ordered him to stand trial in February 2026, while the Versailles Court of Appeal upheld the decision in June. Hakimi then appealed to the Cour de cassation, France’s highest court for criminal and civil matters.