Moroccan Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi was charged with rape on Thursday, the Nanterre floor told AFP on Friday.
The 24-year-old PSG player was heard by investigators from the Territorial Security Hauts-de-Seine on Thursday, then charged by an examining magistrate and placed under judicial supervision. On Friday, the player was present at PSG’s training session, an AFP journalist noted. Contacted, the club declined immediate comment.
Another 24-year-old woman accuses him of raping her last Saturday at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt, a western suburb of Paris.
The prosecutor said his judicial control forbids him to contact the young woman. However, he is entitled to leave French territory.
The preliminary investigation opened by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office on Monday will now be entrusted to an investigating judge.
The player’s lawyer, Me Fanny Colin, who was contacted by AFP, was not immediately available. On Tuesday, she had assured the “Parisian” that the allegations were “false” and that Mr. Hakimi was “relaxed” and “at the disposal of the judiciary”.
For her part, the young woman was heard by investigators on Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter said.
“We take note of the indictment,” Me Rachel Flore Pardo, the victim’s attorney, told AFP. “My client stands by all of her statements. She has chosen to speak exclusively to the judiciary and does not wish to publicize the case, particularly to protect her safety,” she continued.
The young woman first went to a police station in Val-de-Marne on Sunday, where she said she had been raped without filing a complaint.
According to a police source, she then said that she met Achraf Hakimi on the social network Instagram in January and drove to his home on Saturday in a VTC (transport van with a driver) ordered by the player.
On the spot, she reports that Achraf Hakimi kissed and touched her without her consent before raping her, the police source added.
She managed to push him away and said a friend who had been texted came to pick her up.
Achraf Hakimi joined PSG from Inter Milan in 2021. Considered one of the best right-backs in the world, he was part of the standard team of 2022 named by the international association (Fifa) and announced in Paris on Monday.
The player had also attended the gala evening organized by Fifa at the Salle Pleyel on Monday, a few hours after the revelation of the opening of the rape investigation against him.