Jegou-Auradou case: “rights violated”, “something that smells bad”, the Argentinian plaintiff files a new application

Les deux joueurs français sont accusés de viol sur une Argentine. Montage Midi Libre

The plaintiff in the case of an alleged rape in Argentina by two French rugby players expressed on Thursday, October 3, before a legislative commission, her feeling of rights “trampled” by the justice system, as the examination of a request for dismissal of the case for her alleged attackers approaches.

“We have filed the application on what we believe to have been, and still to be, a constant and permanent violation of our rights and guarantees in the judicial field”, Felix, the father of the 39-year-old complainant, told reporters in Mendoza (west), who did not give his name to protect his daughter's anonymity.

“We will resort to all necessary authorities” for the protection of these rights, including "of course" international bodies, he added without further details, at the end of his daughter's hearing remotely, himself in person.

The "Commission of Rights and Guarantees" of Mendoza is composed of half a dozen deputies of the Provincial Assembly, from various sides. Its resolutions have no legal value, but it can make a formal request for explanations to the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.

"Political aspect"

However "there was no agreement" in the committee for such a resolution, regretted its chairman Jose Luis Ramon to the media, adding that he will therefore formulate, in his personal capacity as chairman, a request for access to the file of the investigation for information purposes.

"There is a very strong political aspect" in this case”, denounced the deputy (centre-left), deploring “the attempt to turn the victim into a defendant”, and blaming the provincial government (centre-right) of Mendoza.

“There is something that smells bad”, he insisted, referring to a “political pressure” to close the case, a "extreme speed" of the decisions of the prosecution, and recalling that the rugby players' lawyer is the brother of the Minister of Justice of the Milei government.

The complainant has repeatedly felt that she was mistreated by the justice system, and her lawyers had requested in early September, in vain, the disqualification of the two prosecutors in charge of the investigation.

Request for dismissal

The Mendoza justice system must set a hearing date in the next few days to examine the request for dismissal, filed in late August by the players' lawyers.

Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, two 21-year-old French rugby players, are charged with aggravated gang rape, alleged to have occurred on the night of July 6-7 in a hotel room in Mendoza, where the French XV had just played a match against Argentina.

The players have maintained from the start that the sexual relations with the complainant, whom they met in a nightclub, were consensual. Initially detained and then placed under house arrest, they were released in mid-August, then allowed to leave Argentina pending the end of the investigation. They returned to France on September 4, and have since resumed training in their clubs.