“The club has no ethics from the moment it does not dismiss, at least until a legal decision on the case, a player who remains to this day under investigation for extremely serious offenses,” tackled Me Natacha Romano.
The Mendoza public prosecutor’s office, where the investigation against Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the two French rugby players accused of aggravated rape in Argentina, is being conducted, requested on Friday a dismissal of the case “due to doubts or lack of evidence” which will be studied during a hearing set for October 18, while Auradou will return to competition on Saturday. The second line of Pau will indeed return to the rugby fields on Saturday in the Top 14 in Perpignan for the 5th day, almost three months to the day after this accusation which the players deny, affirming that the sexual relationship with the complainant of 39 years was agreed.
“The day has come to put him on a rugby field and it will be tomorrow (Saturday)”announced Friday the manager of the Pau Section, Sébastien Piqueronies. “He will start the meeting”he said in a pre-match press conference. “Nothing prohibits him from playing rugby, he is presumed innocent. Today it is up to those who defend him and the management of the club to assume consistency as they have done from the start.”
One of the Argentinian lawyers for the two young French rugby players, Me Rafael Cuneo Libarona, declared:satisfied” to the AFP of the position of the prosecution. He believes that this case must “alert about cases of abusive denunciations against innocent people“. “If in my office we defend many women who are sexually assaulted, I nevertheless believe that the role of justice was to protect these two men in the face of these false accusations”he added. In France, Me Antoine Vey greeted “a decision in line with all the elements that were collected, verified and discussed throughout the investigation”. “We calmly await the end of this procedure”added the lawyer for the two players in a statement sent to AFP.
“What example do we give to young athletes around the world?”
Another story, of course, is from Me Natacha Romano, the plaintiff’s lawyer. “The club has no ethics from the moment it does not dismiss, at least until a legal decision on the matter, a player who remains to this day indicted for extremely serious offenses”she tackles in the columns of Parisian. “What example do we give to young athletes around the world?”also wonders Natacha Romano. This is denigrating to women. The fact that the club allows an accused person to play means that they support them. It’s a dark message, a legitimization of violence.”
The prosecution’s request for dismissal comes after the validation at the end of September of a final procedural act, a report of psychiatric and psychological assessments of the complainant carried out by experts mandated by the prosecution itself which appeared to weaken the position of the accusation. He revealed “a series of inconsistencies and contradictions (…) which overall outline an unlikely story“. The two practitioners co-authors of the expertise note “contradictory and inconsistent content when explaining situations with which it is confronted”. The expertise also undermines the spontaneity of the complainant, noting a “permeability to what others say”and “a story that is neither free nor spontaneous (…) and tinged with obvious external influences, notably from her friend” with whom she had a conversation shortly after the events.laughing” par messages audios.
