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Argentine justice drops rape charges against Jegou and Auradou

Argentinian justice has dropped charges against two French rugby players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, charged with aggravated rape in Argentina in July during a tour of the French XV, we learned on Tuesday from the players’ lawyers.

“The (sexual) act was consensual, no crime was committed and there is no doubt that they are innocent,” Ms.e German Hnatow following a deliberation at the judicial center of Mendoza (west). “The judicial rehabilitation has been achieved,” welcomed the players’ Parisian lawyer, M.e Antoine Vey, “the two players were victims of false accusations”.

“The Argentine justice system which investigated, which did so on the basis of objective elements which are videos, testimonies, expert opinions, was able to clearly say that the facts of which they were accused did not exist”, added M.e Vey to AFP. Auradou and Jegou, 21, were prosecuted for aggravated rape, committed in a meeting on the night of July 6 to 7 in a hotel in Mendoza, where the XV of had just played a match against Argentina.

From the start, the players from and have affirmed that the sexual relations with the complainant, a 39-year-old Argentinian, were consensual and without violence. The complainant’s lawyer has always denounced a rape with “terrible violence”. But early in the case, notably in mid-August when deciding to release the two players, the prosecution noted “notorious contradictions, inconsistencies, gray areas” in the complainant’s story.

This is why the public prosecutor pleaded for the prosecution to be dropped at the beginning of October following the investigation. The decision rendered Tuesday may not be final. The plaintiff’s defense has the possibility of appealing, which would send the case to another instance.

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