The two French rugby players, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou, both aged 21, are being questioned this Thursday by the magistrate in charge of the case. The two athletes are accused of aggravated rape, in a group, on the night of 6 to 7 July in a hotel room in Mendoza, 1,000 km from Buenos Aires, where the French XV had just played a test match against Argentina.
The hearing, which was expected to last the day, began late in the morning, first with the testimony of Hugo Auradou, according to judicial sources on site. The two players arrived at the Mendoza judicial center through a secondary entrance, away from the journalists present.
The hearing, which will be attended by lawyers from both sides, could continue late into the day, judging by the complainant’s testimony of more than four hours on Tuesday.
The victim was heard a second time on Tuesday
The 39-year-old victim was interviewed for the second time since the beginning of July by the prosecutor of the unit for crimes against sexual integrity, Dario Nora. A statement that provided “clarifications”, according to her lawyer Natacha Romano, but “without any flaws” and in which she reiterates her accusations.
In her account, she explained that she went with one of the two players, whom she had met in a nightclub, to his hotel room in Mendoza on the night of July 6-7. Then she was raped and assaulted by both players, who returned later. Arrested on July 8 in Buenos Aires, where the French XV had returned, the two young French players were transferred to Mendoza on July 11, charged the next day and imprisoned. On July 17, they were placed under house arrest.
Players will answer “absolutely everything”
On Thursday, just before the hearing, Rafael Cuneo Libarona, welcomed to journalists “the good opportunity, after 30 days” for the players to present their version, affirming that “they have nothing to hide” and will answer “absolutely everything”.
For her part, Natacha Romano reaffirmed on Thursday that the evidence against the two accused was “strong”, just as, according to her, her client’s hearing on Tuesday had been. “They will not be able to justify the injuries” to the victim, she notably estimated.
A psychiatric assessment of her client is still pending, but has not yet been carried out due to the lack of an immediately available expert, the lawyer also indicated. “But we must not forget that she is the victim, not the accused,” she stressed.
Next decision on their status
The players’ Argentine lawyer, Rafael Cuneo Libarona, who was present at the hearing on Tuesday, said that during the hearing, “the innocence of the two rugby players [avait] been demonstrated”, even if he could not at the moment “give details”. From the beginning, he said he was “confident” and mentioned “proof”, without further details, of the innocence of the two players, who acknowledged a sexual relationship with the complainant but claimed that it was consensual and denied any violence.
Elements that have emerged in recent weeks include audio messages exchanged by the complainant with a friend after the events, which were presented to her during Tuesday’s hearing. “She was able to explain each of them very calmly,” her lawyer assured.
Request for release
The lawyer for the accused, for his part, reports “significant contradictions” between the plaintiff’s statements as well as “different versions [qui] were accommodated,” which, according to him, the investigating magistrate “noticed.”
The lawyer is expected to file a request for the players’ release in the coming days, with the judge expected to rule early next week on whether to maintain or change their status from preventive detention to house arrest. The “logical and coherent” plan is for them to remain in Argentina, the plaintiff’s lawyer commented on Tuesday.