The trial of Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred, already involved in several cases of rape or sexual assault, opened Monday behind closed doors before the Assize Court of Draguignan (F) for the rape, which he contests, of a barmaid in 2018 near Saint-Tropez.
Very popular in Morocco and the Arab world, Mr. Lamjarred, 41, appears free. The singer arrived at the courthouse wearing black pants and a loose white shirt, accompanied by his wife who never stopped supporting him.
The court granted the request of the victim, who appeared earlier, eyes red and crying, who wanted the proceedings not to be public and also refused to allow Mr. Lamjarred’s wife to attend.
The victim’s lawyer, Dominique Lardans, denounced to AFP a “very long wait, too long wait”, while the trial, more than seven years after the events, had to be postponed to December 2025 because the president of the court was unwell.
Mr. Lamjarred asked to be assisted by an interpreter. “I would like to speak in French but I will express myself better in Moroccan,” he explained to the court, in a clear voice, as the jury selection began.
In August 2018, the victim was working as a barmaid in Saint-Tropez when she met Saad Lamjarred in a nightclub. According to her testimony to investigators, she did not know him, found him cute and agreed to go for a drink at his hotel bar.
Still according to her account, he in fact led her directly to her room, tried to kiss her then threw her on the bed, undressed and raped her while holding her by the wrists without her being able to react, paralyzed.
Assured him that the relationship was consensual, that the young woman had also removed her pants herself.
But a friend called for help immediately afterwards testified to finding her shocked, her makeup dripping, her lips swollen, her eyes blank.
Similar cases elsewhere
The analyzes carried out a few hours later estimated their alcohol level at that time between 1.2 and 1.4 g/L for her and between 1.6 and 1.8 g/L for him.
The wiretapping of the victim’s phone revealed real uneasiness and fear that the affair would be publicized. But also a call, while the singer was in police custody, from a man offering 200,000 euros for an amicable settlement.
If she did not follow up, her friend, on the other hand, wrote to a lawyer for Mr. Lamjarred to propose an agreement, but then reaffirmed to investigators that she had never lied about the state in which she had found the young woman.
Even if the prosecution was not opposed to a dismissal of the case, the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence (south) confirmed in 2021 the referral to the assizes, recalling in particular that the fact of entering a man’s bedroom did not automatically constitute consent.
The singer has already been implicated in similar cases in 2015 in Morocco and in 2010 in the United States, where proceedings for rape and sexual assault were dismissed after a financial arrangement with the victim.
In France, he was sentenced in 2023 to six years in prison by the Paris Assize Court. A young woman, Laura P., met in a Parisian nightclub, accused him in 2016 of having raped and hit her in a hotel room, which he always contested.
In this case, the appeal trial was scheduled for June 2025 in Créteil but it was postponed due to the proceedings launched against Laura P. and five other people, suspected of having tried to monetize her silence.
At the end of a trial at the end of March, five people – including the young woman’s mother, a lawyer and an influencer – were convicted of having demanded three million euros from the singer so that Laura P. would withdraw her complaint and not come and testify before the court in Créteil. The young woman, for her part, was relaxed.
