The right-back of Paris Saint-Germain Achraf Hakimi has been accused of rape, as revealed this Friday by the France Presse agency and the Nanterre Prosecutor’s Office (France) has confirmed to EL PAÍS. Last Monday, the newspaper le parisien reported that a 24-year-old woman accused the star of the Moroccan team in the last World Cup of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred last Saturday at the footballer’s home in Boulonge-Billancourt, near Paris. Hakimi, also 24, was questioned on Thursday and released, although subject to judicial control measures: he will not be able to come into contact with the victim.
The soccer player’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, assures in an email that her client “has been, in this matter, the object of an extortion attempt.” In the message, Colin notes that Hakimi “strongly denied [durante el interrogatorio] the accusations against him. And he emphasizes that the accusation offers him the possibility of defending himself and accessing the details of the case.
“The imputation [de Hakimi] It shows that the investigating judge has considered that there are serious and concordant indications of the commission of a crime of rape of which my client is the victim, ”says Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer for the woman who accuses the soccer player, in a statement.
After learning of the accusations and the preliminary investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, PSG expressed its support for the right-back born and raised in Spain, one of the pillars of the all-star team in which Messi, Mbappé and Neymar play. The same day, a few hours after le parisien reveal the allegations, Hakimi attended the FIFA gala in Paris, where he was chosen as a member of the eleven ideal of 2022.
The indictment does not mean that Hakimi will be prosecuted and maintains the presumption of innocence until, in case of trial, he is convicted. But, according to French justice and as the lawyer Pardo recalls, it means that there are serious or concordant indications.
The woman who accuses the soccer player testified on Wednesday before investigators. Her identity has not been revealed. Colin, Hakimi’s lawyer, denounces that the accuser “has refused to file a complaint, has refused to submit to the minimum medical or psychological examination and has refused a confrontation with Achraf Hakimi, when the accusation rests exclusively on his words.” Pardo, the lawyer for the accuser, replies: “We will not tolerate any campaign of denigration or destabilization to the detriment [de su clienta]as unfortunately happens all too often with women who have the courage to denounce acts of rape of which they are victims”.
PSG has declared its support for Hakimi and has stated that it trusts in justice. The coach, Christophe Galtier, declared this Friday, after the training in which the defender participated, that he expected him to be available for the Champions League match against Bayern, next Wednesday, once he overcomes the muscle pain in the thigh that he is dragging from the World Cup.
According to le parisien, the woman and the soccer player met in January through the social network Instagram. On Saturday, on the eve of the Olympique de Marseille-PSG match, the woman went to Hakimi’s residence in an Uber vehicle ordered by the footballer. Hakimi, due to injury, had not traveled to Marseille this weekend with the team. His wife, actress Hiba Abouk, and her two children, were on vacation in Dubai, as can be seen in Abouk’s photos on the Instagram social network.
The Parisian newspaper, based on the statement of the woman who accuses Hakimi, explained that he “lifted up her clothes, kissed her breasts despite her protesting, and she also affirms that the athlete committed penetration with his fingers despite her protests. The woman then notified a friend by mobile message and her friend went looking for her. When she went to a police station on Sunday to explain the facts, she gave up filing a complaint, but the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation on her own foot that has led to the accusation.
You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
