Jégou-Auradou affair. “There is something that smells bad”: “political pressure” mentioned

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The complainant in the case of an alleged rape in Argentina by French rugby players Hugo Auradou et Oscar Jegou exposed Thursday October 4, 2024, before a legislative commission, his feeling of rights “violated” by the justice system, as the examination of a request for dismissal of the case for his alleged attackers approaches.

Protection of rights

“We presented the request on what we believe to have been, and still is, a constant and permanent violation of our rights and guarantees in the judicial field,” Felix, father of the plaintiff, told the press in Mendoza (west). 39 years old, who did not give her name to preserve the anonymity of her daughter.

“We will resort to all necessary authorities” for the protection of these rights, including “of course” international authorities, he added without further details, at the end of his daughter’s remote hearing. , himself in person.

The Mendoza “Commission of Rights and Guarantees” is made up of half a dozen deputies of the Provincial Assembly, from various sides. Its resolutions do not have legal value, but it can make a formal request for explanations to the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.

“A very strong political aspect”

However, “there was no agreement” in committee for such a resolution, its president Jose Luis Ramon regretted to the media, adding that he will therefore formulate, in his personal capacity as president, a request for access to the investigation file for information purposes.

“There is a very strong political aspect” in this case, denounced the deputy (center-left), deploring “the attempt to transform the victim into a litigant”, and making the provincial government (center-right) of Mendoza responsible.

“There is something that smells bad,” he insisted, evoking “political pressure” to close the case, an “extreme speed” of the prosecutor’s decisions, and recalling that the rugby players’ lawyer is the brother of the Minister of Justice of the Milei government.

The complainant felt on several occasions that she had been mistreated by the courts, and her lawyers had requested in early September, in vain, the recusal of the two prosecutors responsible for the investigation.

Examination of the request for dismissal

The Mendoza courts must in the coming days set a hearing date for the examination of the request for dismissal, filed at the end of August by the players’ lawyers.
Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, two 21-year-old French rugby players, are charged with aggravated rape in a meeting, allegedly occurring on the night of July 6 to 7 in a hotel room in Mendoza, where the French XV had just played a match against Argentina.

The players have maintained from the beginning that the sexual relations with the complainant, whom they met in a nightclub, were consensual. First detained then placed under house arrest, they were released in mid-August, then authorized to leave Argentina pending the end of the investigation. They returned to France on September 4, and have since resumed training in their clubs.

CM, with AFP

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