It is only a matter of time. After almost two months in Argentina, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou will board a plane to France. “A priori”, their arrival should be for Wednesday, September 4, declared Me Antoine Vey this Tuesday on the set of BFMTV.
Earlier in the day, the two players of the French XV received the green light from Judge Eleonora Arenas, in accordance with the request of the prosecution. This court decision does not, however, mean the end of the proceedings launched against the two internationals, indicted for “aggravated rape”.
They are accused by a 39-year-old woman of non-consensual sexual relations and acts of violence on the night of July 6 to 7, at the end of a night out at a discotheque in Mendoza, after a match of the Blues. The Rochelais and the Pauois admit to sexual relations with the complainant but contest the facts. According to Me Antoine Vey, “the decision that has just been rendered, if we know how to decipher it, exonerates them”.
Both players released on August 12
“Since the beginning, the prosecution, which has access to all the elements of the investigation and which truly knows what this investigation has produced – it has produced the mark of the innocence of these two players – first authorized, a month ago, the release in Argentina”, rewinds the lawyer, who recalls that “all the decisions that have been made have been favorable to the players”.
After their arrest, the two players were placed in pretrial detention. About ten days later, they were placed under house arrest before being released on August 12, without however being allowed to leave Argentine territory. The players’ lawyers filed a request for dismissal of the case last week, for which a hearing date has not yet been set.
“Other acts had to be done. They were done. […] Today, they are allowed to return to France. In a few days, a decision will be made to drop the charges,” assures Me Vey.
“A media match”
Me Antoine Vey proclaims: “We do not need to wait for a court decision to be exonerated. The investigation will not have established the elements allowing us to confirm the accusation of which they were the victims.”
“We must at some point say: these are people who are innocent, who are not presumed guilty, who are not presumed rapists. There is no presumed victim and there is no presumed rape. There are two people who have been wrongly accused of serious acts,” the lawyer further argues, stating that “the medical expertise excludes the possibility that the complainant’s statements were real.”
The players’ lawyer believes that, in this case, “there is also this media match that took place in parallel with the legal case, which is extremely unpleasant and which is not objective in fact”. And Me Antoine Vey insists: “On the one hand, we appeal to emotions, to an ideological cause that everyone understands and that we can respect. We have these objective elements: the video surveillance, the text messages, the mobile phones, which we handed over to the courts while the plaintiff did not want to hand over her phone.”
A testimony from the complainant will soon be released
The disciple of Éric Dupond-Moretti recognizes that it is important to fight against violence against women, that it is a just “political cause.” “We want laws so that women are protected,” he assures. “But that has nothing to do with an individual case in which there may be women who do not tell the truth.”
Now, his clients want to experience “a phase of media diet”. “They want to return to France, take the time to be with their family, return to their club, resume sports competition”, relates Me Antoine Vey. “And they want to see how we are going to manage a phase which is that of media rehabilitation.”
On Thursday, September 12, France 2 will broadcast the testimony of the complainant on Envoyé Spécial. A chilling excerpt was shared on the evening of Tuesday, in which she claims that Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou “[l]’brutalized and treated like a piece of meat’.
She describes the abuse she says she suffered that night of July 6-7. Abuse that led her to attempt suicide at the end of August. The thirty-year-old even left a farewell letter to explain her actions. “They ruined my life. They mercilessly manipulated the press so that it would lead to social condemnation against me,” the thirty-year-old fumed in this text.
In this case, the versions are still directly opposed and the “media match” is perhaps not yet over.
- RMC Sport
