Appeals judges in Argentina on Tuesday dismissed rape charges against French rugby players Oscar Jégou and Hugo Auradou, even as their accuser vowed to seek recourse to a higher court.
The men, both 21, were arrested two days after winning their first international caps for France against Argentina in the western city of Mendoza in July last year.
A 39-year-old woman, whom they met in a nightclub after the match, accused them of a vicious assault in a hotel room.
Auradou and Jégou insisted they had consensual sex with the woman after a night of drinking.
The players were remanded in custody for over a week in Mendoza and then under house arrest for nearly a month before being allowed to return to France last September after prosecutors said the case against them appeared flimsy.
On Tuesday, three appeals judges in Mendoza upheld a lower court's ruling last December to dismiss all charges against the pair.
In a judgment seen by AFP dismissing an appeal by the plaintiff, the judges cited a "lack of elements to support a serious accusation."
The accuser's lawyer Natacha Romano told AFP Tuesday they would lodge an appeal with the highest court of the province of Mendoza, and if necessary after that, the Supreme Court of the nation.
Romano had previously vowed to exhaust all avenues of appeal, which could still include the Inter-American Court for Human Rights based in Costa Rica.
Jégou and Auradou made their first Test appearance since the accusation last month, starting on the bench for France's Six Nations opener against Wales.
– TIMES/AFP
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