Trending 
Achraf Hakimi, a Moroccan international and Paris Saint-Germain player, will go on trial for allegedly raping a young woman, his attorney and a French prosecutor told AFP on Tuesday.
A 24-year-old woman reported Hakimi’s rape to police in Val-de-Marne, southeast of Paris, in February 2023, but the football player, 27, denies any wrongdoing.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
A trial has been ordered, according to Hakimi’s attorney Fanny Colin, and the prosecutor in the Paris suburb of Nanterre has confirmed this.
“A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.
In response to a question about it at the press conference on Tuesday, prior to the Champions League play-off second leg against Monaco, PSG coach Luis Enrique stated, “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
Rachel-Flore Pardo, the plaintiff’s attorney, stated that her client was relieved to learn that the case was going to court.
According to her, the judiciary handled the case well, and its treatment in general showed that “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football.”
