French rugby gamers cleared of sexual assault in Argentina

An Argentine courtroom on Tuesday dropped prices of aggravated sexual assault towards two French skilled rugby gamers accused of raping a girl after taking part in in a match within the nation earlier this 12 months.

The decide in Mendoza, about 1,000 kilometers west of the capital, Buenos Aires, dismissed the costs towards the 21-year-old athletes, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, citing inadequate proof.

“The info underneath investigation don’t represent against the law,” the courtroom mentioned.

The case started in July, when a 39-year-old Argentinian girl filed a grievance towards police, alleging she had been overwhelmed, strangled and raped repeatedly by rugby gamers of their resort room in Mendoza.

The rugby gamers admitted having intercourse with the complainant – who they met at a drunken evening at a membership after their July 7 victory over Argentina's Pumas – however insisted the assembly was consensual. They have been positioned in preventive detention, then positioned underneath home arrest for a month.

The protection mentioned the dismissal elevated its confidence within the justice system.

“I believe will probably be a turning level,” German Hnatow, a lawyer representing one of many two gamers, informed Radio Miter Mendoza, a neighborhood radio station. “There are a lot of false accusations when it comes to sexual crimes, when it comes to gender violence, which trigger hurt. »

The complainant can attraction the choice. She has not mentioned whether or not she intends to take action and her lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Over the previous few months, the case has slowly unfolded because the protection poked holes within the girl's description of occasions.

Citing questionable proof offered in courtroom – together with WhatsApp voice messages despatched by the complainant to her pal joking and bragging in regards to the tough intercourse she had with them – the prosecution in September accepted the athletes' return to France underneath sure situations.

The plaintiff's lawyer defined any inconsistencies in her story as the results of her “shock and excessive stress.”

She underwent bodily examinations as a part of the investigation and was discovered to have an acute bleeding ulcer and different accidents she believed have been associated to her assault.

The French Rugby Federation expressed its “aid and satisfaction” with the decide’s determination. He mentioned the athletes, who had been suspended because of the seriousness of the allegations, can be eligible to return to the nationwide workforce “if their sporting efficiency permits”.