Hakimi, set to face trial for rape, in PSG team for Champions League game / Photo: Bertrand GUAY - AFP/File
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Hakimi, set to face trial for rape, in PSG team for Champions League game
Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi, who is facing trial for alleged rape, was included in his team's starting line-up for the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie against Monaco on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, it was announced by Hakimi's lawyer and a French prosecutor that the PSG and Morocco right-back is to stand trial charged with raping a woman. The 27-year-old denies any wrongdoing.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in the Val-de-Marne region southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
"Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false," Hakimi wrote on social media on Tuesday.
"I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly."
Hakimi's lawyer, Fanny Colin, questioned the woman's co-operation in the investigation.
"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.
The plaintiff's lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.
She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.
Hakimi, who won the African footballer of the year award for last year, took part in PSG's pre-match training session on Tuesday, and is a regular starter at right-back for the reigning European champions.
The Moroccan international, who occasionally wears the captain's armband in the absence of regular skipper Marquinhos, netted the equaliser at Monaco's Stade Louis II last week as PSG came back from two goals down to win the first leg of their play-off tie 3-2.
PSG coach Luis Enrique, when asked about Hakimi's trial at a Tuesday press conference ahead of the return fixture, said: "This matter is in the hands of the authorities."
S.Gregor--AMWN
