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Moroccan artist Saad Lamjarred appeared Monday before the Criminal Court in Draguignan, southern France, in connection with a rape case dating back to 2018 near Saint-Tropez. The hearings are expected to continue until next Friday, with Lamjarred appearing while free under judicial supervision.
The court decided to hold the proceedings behind closed doors at the request of the complainant, who sought to protect her privacy. The trial had initially been scheduled for December 2025 before being postponed due to the health condition of the presiding judge.
The case dates back to August 2018, when the complainant, then working as a waitress in a bar in Saint-Tropez, said she met Lamjarred in a nightclub. According to her account, she agreed to accompany him to his hotel for a drink before the situation allegedly escalated into sexual assault in his room.
Lamjarred denies the allegations and maintains that the encounter was consensual. However, a friend of the complainant told investigators she found her in a state of visible shock following the incident.
Tests conducted hours later showed that both parties had consumed alcohol. Investigators also examined reports of an alleged attempt to offer the complainant money in exchange for an amicable settlement, which she reportedly refused, according to French media.
Although prosecutors initially did not oppose dropping the case, the Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence ruled in 2021 that the matter should be referred to the Criminal Court, stressing that a woman accompanying a man to his hotel room does not automatically imply consent to a sexual relationship.
Lamjarred is also involved in another rape case in France. In 2023, he was sentenced to six years in prison over the assault of a French woman, Laura Prioul, in Paris in 2016. The singer appealed the ruling, and the case remains pending before the courts, with no final judgment issued to date.
