Court in Argentina begins re-examining rape case against French rugby players

A court in Mendoza has begun re-examining the case of two French rugby players who were cleared of rape charges last December.

At the request of the plaintiff, who is appealing a ruling that acquitted the accused, the court began analysing the case against Oscar Jégou and Hugo Auradou, both 21, who last July were accused of raping a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Mendoza after a match.

The court will hear arguments and then have five working days to issue a ruling.

Minutes before the hearing began, defence lawyers entered the court without providing statements.

Plaintiff lawyer Natacha Romano told local press that she had “the best” expectations ahead of the hearing. 

Following the allegations, Jégou and Auradou were first imprisoned and then placed under house arrest in Mendoza. They were released in August and subsequently returned to France in September after being cleared by the court, which acquitted them on the grounds that no crime had been committed.

Romano said last week that he was confident the acquittal would be reversed.

“In the event that we don't get what we want ... of course we will go to the [Supreme] Court, that's already a fact,” she said.

The complaint argues that evidence related to the case was not fully evaluated, while the defence argues that there was no crime committed because sexual relations were consensual and did not involve violence.

One of the key points of the initial complaint was the sight of bruises on the plaintiff’s body, which she attributed to the “ferocious violence” allegedly perpetrated against her by the French rugby stars.

However, the court upheld the defence’s argument  that the woman had a haematological disease.

Despite the setbacks in court, “we continue to trust in the justice” system, Romano stressed last week.

Last December, the lawyer announced that if the appeal was rejected, she would take the case to the Supreme Court of Mendoza, the Supreme Court of the Nation and even “to the Inter-American Court” of Human Rights, which is based in Costa Rica – a process that could take years.

Antoine Vey, the players' lawyer in France, said they are facing the hearing “with great serenity.”

“The Argentine judges, despite the pressure on them and the media battle of the prosecution, have recognised that the case contained no evidence and that the players were therefore innocent,” he declared.

– TIMES/AFP