New twist: Jegou-Auradou affair: why could the investigation be relaunched?

The lawyers of the woman behind a complaint for aggravated rape in Argentina against two French rugby players, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, affirm that the latter does not suffer from a bleeding disorder, an illness invoked by the defense players to explain the bruises found on his body.

The Mendoza public prosecutor’s office, where the investigation is being carried out, ruled a week ago in favor of a dismissal of the case which will be studied at a hearing set for October 18.

In a document submitted to the prosecution, the plaintiff’s lawyers criticize the opposing camp for having “maintained that the plaintiff suffered from an illness, without any supporting medical study.” They inform that they requested a medical consultation with an independent hematologist, who declared that the complainant “did not suffer from the disease”.

The rugby players’ lawyer, Antoine Vey, assured that the investigation had shown that the woman “had hidden from the courts that she was suffering from Willebrand disease”, a hemorrhagic pathology, a coagulation disorder, which can predispose bruising or bleeding.

Another defender of the players, Rafael Cuneo Libarona, considered that the approach of the plaintiff’s lawyers constituted a “new shameful maneuver” to delay the procedure, specifying that the woman had herself admitted to suffering from Willebrand disease.

According to forensic reports, the complainant had at least “15 marks or injuries” on her body.

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 spoke of “terrible violence”, which saw her 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.