Rugby players charged with rape in Argentina: justice examines a dismissal, outcome near

After almost five months, numerous postponements of hearings and procedural appeals, The Argentine justice system will finally examine on Monday the request to abandon the proceedings filed by the lawyers of Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the two French rugby players charged with aggravated rape in July.

At the judicial center in Mendoza (west), the lawyers of the plaintiff, a 39-year-old Argentinian mother of two children, and those of the players will debate behind closed doors the dismissal requested at the end of August by the representatives of the two young internationals. The prosecution will also plead for the dropping of the charges, as it announced at the end of the investigation.

The judge presiding over the hearing could give her decision immediately, or more likely put it under advisement in a few days, according to parties to the case.

11,000 km away, the two 21-year-old players, who returned to France at the beginning of September after the green light from the Argentinian justice system, have resumed their lives as rugby players: since October for Auradou, since November for Jegou. Both played again this weekend in Top 14.

A sporting “normality” that almost makes us forget that they remain charged with aggravated rape because they were committed in a group, facing between eight and 20 years in prison if found guilty. If there is a trial, which the prosecution is therefore not considering.

– A gap between the versions –

Auradou and Jegou are charged with alleged events that occurred on the night of July 6 to 7 in a hotel room in Mendoza, where the French XV had just played a test match against Argentina, followed by a “third half”.

Both have maintained from the beginning that the sexual relations with the complainant, whom they met in a nightclub, were consensual and without violence. The complainant's lawyer, on the contrary, denounced a rape with “terrible violence”.

If consent, or not, is at the heart of rape cases, the gap in this case appeared spectacular between the radically opposed versions of the protagonists. The only convergence: there were indeed sexual acts in the hotel room between the players and the complainant, and in an alcohol-filled context.

French third-row winger Oscar Jegou of La Rochelle poses with young supporters after the Top 14 match against Stade Français, at the Marcel-Deflandre stadium in La Rochelle, on November 2, 2024 © AFP – XAVIER LEOTY

Throughout the investigation, analysis of testimonies, video surveillance images, audio messages (of the complainant with a friend, in particular), “it is clear (…) that the initial accusation has lost its force”, the prosecutor's office noted when authorizing the return to France of the players. Who had spent, at the beginning of July, a little over a week in preventive detention, then almost a month under house arrest.

For their lawyers, the case is that of a “scandalous denunciation”, a “malicious lie (…) with financial aims” for compensation, “without which there is no other explanation”, estimates with hindsight for the AFP Me German Hnatow.

– The “post-Mendoza” in rugby-

Natacha Romano, the lawyer of the plaintiff – another has dissociated himself from the case -, maintains that her client was non-consenting and was atrociously assaulted. And throughout the procedure, she has increasingly attacked a justice system that she considers “biased”, even under orders – one of the players' lawyers is the brother of the Minister of Justice. The plaintiff herself, “Maria”, told AFP that she felt she had been “abandoned” by the Argentine justice system.

Me Romano, who has not spoken to the media for over a month, tried to have the two co-prosecutors in charge of the investigation dismissed, and then the judge again last Friday. Appeals dismissed.

“Incessant attempts to obstruct, delay, quarrel,” raged Mr. Hnatow, as the tone rose between the Argentinian lawyers. With on the plaintiff's side threats of future complaints against a lawyer for the players, on the other the increasingly less veiled mention of future “requests for compensation” from the players.

French rugby, in all this ? He continues to digest the shockwave of “the night of Mendoza” – where another player, Melvyn Jaminet, had made racist remarks on his social networks, for which he was suspended.

Pau's French second row Hugo Auradou (r.) passes the ball during the Top 14 match against Montpellier, in Montpellier, on November 23, 2024 © AFP – Sylvain THOMAS

Three victories for the Blues during the fall tour have restored the preeminence of the field, but the “post-Mendoza” promised by the French rugby authorities is underway: on the living environment, alcohol consumption, the progress of tours, prevention, possible sanctions.

All reproduction and representation rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse