While the international players are expected in Paris this afternoon, their lawyers will plead on Thursday, during a hearing, for the charges against them to be dropped.
In Mendoza, the judicial noose is loosening for Oscar Jégou and Hugo Auradou, authorized Tuesday evening by the Argentine justice system to return to France. The two French rugby players, who must pay bail of 10 million pesos (12,300 dollars), are expected this afternoon at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
If one of their French councils, Me Antoine Vey welcomed the decision, but the proceedings are not over. The two 21-year-old internationals remain charged with “aggravated rape”, committed in a group, on an Argentinian woman. The alleged facts date from the night of July 6 to 7, when, after an evening spent celebrating the victory of a test match against Argentina with their teammates, the two players found themselves in a hotel room in Mendoza with this woman. While she has since claimed to have been raped and “considered a piece of meat”they swear that the sexual relationship was consensual.
Initially detained for just over a week, Auradou and Jegou were placed under house arrest in mid-July in Mendoza, under electronic tags, then released on August 12, with a ban on leaving Argentina. Now, the legal proceedings continue for the two players, even thousands of kilometers from Mendoza, with next steps, one of which, crucial, tomorrow.
Abandon des charges
At a hearing this Thursday, the lawyers of the two players will argue, before the court of Mendoza, the request for dismissal in the case filed last week. The hearing had already been postponed, on August 27, after a suicide attempt by the plaintiff, who was still hospitalized on Monday.
On September 5, the defense is preparing to request the definitive abandonment of the charges against them. For a month, according to Me Antoine Vey, a number of elements provided by the defense have already made it possible to “empty” in essence the strength of the accusation, which is why the courts have just decided that there was no longer any “concrete risk of flight” of the two players, and that they could return to France.
Their counsel was also confident about the request for dismissal. “The decision that has just been made (to be able to return to France, Editor’s note), if we know how to decipher it, exonerates them”he explained on RTL radio on Tuesday evening. After the hearing, the Argentine justice system will deliver its verdict by September 10, and will then decide whether or not to acquit Oscar Jégou and Hugo Auradou.
At the disposal of justice
In the meantime, the two accused must remain at the disposal of the Argentine justice system. Among the legal measures governing their return to France, they have in particular the moral obligation to appear, if summoned by the justice system, at the Argentine consulate. They may also be heard by videoconference. “as often as required”or even “to report to Mendoza if asked”. This latter modality being, according to Mr.e Vey, unlikely given the way the case has gone for both players.
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