Date set for ruling on Les Bleus players accused of rape in Argentina
France duo Hugo Auradou (lock) and Oscar Jegou (flanker).
The two French international rugby players accused of raping a woman while on tour in Argentina earlier this year are set to learn their fate next month.
Judicial authorities in Argentina’s Mendoza province announced on Friday that a judge will give a verdict on whether to dismiss the charges against the duo on Tuesday, December 10.
The announcement was made following two days of closed-door hearings by Judge Eleonora Arenas on the matter earlier this week.
D-Day confirmed
“The hearing for the dismissal is on Tuesday, December 10 at 09.00 [12.00 GMT],” provincial justice spokesman Martin Ahumada told AFP.
Hugo Auradou (lock) and Oscar Jegou (flanker), who are both 21 years old, are facing charges of raping a woman after Les Bleus clinched a 28-13 victory over Argentina in Mendoza in July.
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The players’ lawyers and the prosecution have argued that the charges should be dismissed. However, the complainant’s lawyer Natacha Romano has accused the prosecution of bias.
A lawyer, who is representing one of the players, is the brother of Argentina’s justice minister.
A 39-year-old woman alleges that Auradou and Jegou raped her repeatedly and beat her in a hotel room in Mendoza – a city situated 1,000 kilometres west of Buenos Aires – after the Test between Los Pumas and Les Bleus.
Players denied the allegations
Auradou and Jegou denied the rape allegations and said they had consensual sex with their accuser after meeting her in a nightclub.
The players were initially in custody in a Mendoza prison, before being released on house arrest and were then allowed to return to Buenos Aires before returning to France nearly two months later after prosecutors said the case against them had weakened.
