Khaberni - A new trial begins in France for Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred on charges of raping a waitress in 2018, in a case that adds to a series of allegations he has faced for years.
The trial sessions for Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred, who is accused of raping a waitress in a bar near Saint-Tropez in 2018, begin today in southern France, despite his repeated denials of these claims. The trial is held before the Draguignan criminal court at 2 PM, with the expected verdict on Thursday. Lamjarred, who is forty years old, will attend the sessions free.
Dominique Lardan, the plaintiff's attorney, confirmed that his client will request a closed session, noting that she lived through a "nightmare" and had waited seven years to reach the moment of recognition that she is a victim, according to his statement.
The events of the case date back to August 2018 when the plaintiff was working as a waitress in Saint-Tropez, where she met Lamjarred in one of the nightclubs. According to her testimony to the investigators, she did not know his artistic identity beforehand but learned during the evening about his fame. She agreed to have a drink with him at the hotel where he was staying. She says that Lamjarred took her directly to his room, tried to kiss her, then forced her to lie down before sexually assaulting her. In contrast, Lamjarred insists that the relationship was consensual.
It is worth mentioning that Lamjarred's name has been linked in recent years to a number of similar cases. In the United States, his name emerged in a rape case in 2010, before the prosecutions were dropped after reaching a financial settlement with the plaintiff. Additionally, he was charged with rape in 2017 based on the testimony of a young French-Moroccan woman who spoke about being assaulted and beaten in Casablanca in 2015.
In France, the Paris criminal court sentenced him in 2023 to six years in prison after his conviction for raping a young woman he met in a nightclub and then assaulted her in one of the capital's hotels in 2016. Lamjarred has appealed this verdict and still asserts his innocence, admitting only that he pushed the victim violently after she scratched him during an exchange of kisses.
