A court in France on Wednesday upheld a decision to send Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco football star Achraf Hakimi to trial on a rape charge.
An appeals court confirmed on June 19, during the World Cup, that 27-year-old Hakimi, would stand trial in criminal court over the alleged rape of a woman in 2023, an accusation he has repeatedly denied.
Hakimi had appealed that decision to the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the French judicial system for civil and criminal matters.
The appeal was Hakimi’s final legal recourse.
In February, he was ordered to stand trial before the criminal court on the rape charge.
Hakimi challenged that initial order and then appealed to the Court of Cassation after the appeals court upheld the decision in June.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.
