Paris Saint-Germain defender, Achraf Hakimi, will face trial over an allegation of rape after France’s highest court dismissed his final appeal on Wednesday.
The Cour de cassation rejected the Morocco captain’s appeal, with French sports newspaper L’Équipe reporting that the court found no serious grounds for admitting it.
A judicial source also told AFP that the decision followed the recommendation of the rapporteur and the conclusions of the advocate general.
Hakimi’s lawyer at the Cour de cassation, Bertrand Périer, confirmed the ruling in a statement.
“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,” Périer said.
The complainant’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client remained committed to pursuing the case despite the legal battle having lasted 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 hopes with all her heart that this trial will help other women, and crack a little more the fortress of denial and impunity for sexual violence, even in the world of men’s football,” she added.
However, Hakimi’s other lawyer, Fanny Colin, stressed that the Cour de cassation did not consider the substance of the allegation and that the issues would be examined 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.
Colin also alleged that the complainant’s side had hindered attempts to establish the facts, including by allegedly withholding messages referring to a plan to “strip” Hakimi, declining to disclose the identity of a key witness, refusing medical examinations and denying 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 originated in February 2023 when a 24-year-old woman accused Hakimi of raping her at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt.
The pair had reportedly met through Instagram before she visited him at his residence late one evening.
Hakimi has consistently denied the allegation, insisting that the encounter was consensual.
An investigating judge ordered the footballer to stand trial in February 2026, a decision that was subsequently upheld by the Versailles Court of Appeal in June.
Hakimi then took the matter to the Cour de cassation, France’s highest court for criminal and civil cases, but his appeal has now been rejected, paving the way for the trial.
