Argentine justice has rejected a new medical report presented by the lawyers of the woman who accuses the two French rugby players Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou of rape, we learned on Saturday from a judicial source.
The Mendoza public prosecutor’s office (west) therefore kept the date of the hearing to October 18 where the request for dismissal filed by the players’ defense will be studied.
Last week, the alleged victim’s lawyers said she did not suffer from a bleeding disorder.
This illness is invoked by the players’ defense to explain the bruises found on his body, while the complainant claims that these marks are the result of violence inflicted by the players.
A declaration deemed unnecessary
Her lawyers submitted to the prosecution a document in which an independent hematologist testified, stating that the complainant “did not suffer from the disease”, and requested a suspension of the October 18 hearing.
But the Mendoza public prosecutor’s office told them that this statement from the hematologist was not “not useful” and did not change the course of the case, according to the file obtained on Saturday by AFP. He therefore refused the request to suspend the hearing to study the dismissal of the case.
This is scheduled for October 18, but the decision may be announced later. On October 4, the Mendoza public prosecutor’s office decided to dismiss the case – that is, to dismiss the case before the trial – in addition to a request to the same effect made earlier by the defense.
Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both aged 21, are charged with aggravated rape committed in a meeting for alleged acts that occurred on the night of July 6 to 7 in a hotel room in Mendoza, where the XV of France was coming to play a test match against Argentina. The two players have maintained from the beginning that the sexual relations with the complainant, met in a nightclub, were consensual.
And they deny any violence, while the plaintiff’s lawyer mentioned “terrible violence” with regard to his client, “savagely beaten”.
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. Hugo Auradou played again in the Top 14 championship on October 5 with Pau. str-lm/val/emd/def
