The two rugby players are charged with aggravated gang rape in Argentina. Their lawyer has requested their release and is confident of their return to France, despite the medical examiner’s findings confirming the rape.
The two players from the French rugby team, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou, were to be questioned for the first time by the Argentine justice system this Thursday, August 8, at the Mendoza court. Accused of “aggravated rape”, their lawyer stated on August 6 that “the innocence of the two players has been proven”. He requested their release and is confident about their rapid return to France. However, the lawyer of the alleged victim stated that they had “never been able to answer whether they had asked the victim if she agreed or not”.
Rafael Cuneo Libarona, the lawyer for the two players, believes that there are “notorious contradictions” in the testimony of the 39-year-old woman, whose identity is not known. In particular, she “did not want to give her phone to the courts to be able to decipher what happened.”
At the same time, the complainant sticks to her guns. “When you analyze all this in detail, the only strategy of the defendants’ lawyers is to lie and sow doubts,” her brother said, when questioned by The Parisian. According to him, “there is evidence that there was a non-consensual act, a rape, starting with the number of injuries (fifteen) noted by the medical examiner on the day the complaint was filed. She said no. The evidence is clear. We are afraid that justice will not be served, that political pressure will influence the prosecutor in charge of the case (Darío Nora), who has a reputation for being tough,” he said.
Under Argentine law, sexual violence can include acts ranging from sexual assault to aggravated rape, which could be punishable by 20 years in prison. The players’ lawyer has requested house arrest, arguing that “there is no danger of flight.” A “pretrial detention” hearing is scheduled for Monday, August 12. The prosecution could request that they be placed in pretrial detention or released for the duration of the investigation. A judge is expected to make a decision thereafter.
Facts that allegedly took place on Saturday
Accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the night of Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Mendoza, on the sidelines of the South American tour of the French XV and after a large victory against Argentina, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou were arrested in Buenos Aires from where the team was to fly to Uruguay for a new confrontation, the two young players (20 years old and 21 years old) are now charged with “aggravated rape”, one of the most serious charges that could await them.
The plaintiff’s lawyer revealed her client’s story to the press. And it is particularly damning. The victim allegedly suffered a “terrible violence”, according to Natacha Romano, who spoke to AFP on Wednesday July 10. “Gender-based violence is extremely serious, the degradation is extreme (…). The violence here has been terrible”she says.
The story
“This would be a seriously atrocious sexual abuse, with sexual intercourse, with the participation of two people, with violence, for both”the lawyer continues. She details the sequence of events, indicating that her client returned to the hotel with one of the players, “identified as Hugo”. “He immediately grabs her, throws her on the bed, begins to undress her and starts to hit her savagely with one punch, the bruising of which is visible on the victim’s face. He suffocates her, to the point that she feels like she is going away.”she continues.
The lawyer claims that Oscar Jegou, who arrived in the room an hour later, committed “the same acts of violence and sexual abuse”. “Then this individual goes to take a bath, and Hugo continues to use her, giving her different blows. That is to say, she [a des traces] bites, scratches, blows to the breasts, legs and ribs marked in the back”, details the lawyer, who also claims that the victim tried to escape “at least five times”, in vain.
A contested version
“Witnesses saw her go out [de l’hôtel]the cameras saw her come out, there are no signs of beatings, apparently, according to the recordings. She claims to have been beaten, the cameras say she was not”explains the players’ lawyer. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou claim that the relationship was consensual according to the latter.
According to Mendoza’s attorney general, Daniela Chaler, “the deposition [de la plaignante] was quite long, complete, detailed and corresponded, for the time being, to the forensic conclusions”. “The injuries are consistent with the victim’s account, but not necessarily exclusively the result of sexual assault,” she added.
From several months to several years in prison?
Prior to their indictment, the prosecutor had stressed the seriousness of the accusations, indicating that aggravated sexual abuse is a crime punishable by heavy penalties in Argentina. According to Article 119 of the Argentine Penal Code: “Anyone who sexually abuses a person shall be punished by imprisonment or detention of 6 months to 4 years.” […] when there is violence.” A sentence that could apply to both players, given the violent facts described by the complainant.
If the case is more serious, the sentence can be 4 to 10 years of imprisonment or reclusion “when the abuse, due to its duration or the circumstances of its realization, would have constituted a sexual submission seriously undignified for the victim”, such as if the acts are carried out “by two or more people”. An even heavier sentence of 6 to 15 years of reclusion can apply if “there was carnal access by anal, vaginal or oral route or if other similar acts were carried out through the introduction of objects or parts of the body”. Other aggravating circumstances can also extend the sentence to 20 years of imprisonment.