Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou placed under house arrest: “As long as they stay in Argentina, it makes no difference”

the essential Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the two young French rugby players charged with rape in Argentina, left the Mendoza pre-trial detention center on Wednesday where they had been placed since July 11, after having obtained their placement under house arrest.

"Given the level of proof and the absence of procedural risk, it is possible to grant house arrest with a bond personal information for each of them", the Mendoza prosecutor's office (north-west) indicated in a press release published a little earlier, specifying that they would be both equipped with electronic bracelets.

The two players were seen leaving the pre-trial detention center adjoining the court in a vehicle. "This is a very important step forward for the two rugby players and also for French rugby", declared to the press their main lawyer, Me Rafael Cuneo Libarona, who said &amp ;quot;very happy" of the decision of the prosecution.

To support the request for placement under house arrest, he pleaded that guarantees had been provided and that there was no risk of flight. In an interview given on Monday, Me Cuneo Libarona expressed his desire to obtain this placement "as quickly as possible in order to preserve the physical and moral integrity of the two players" quot;.

"It makes no difference to us where they are being held"

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Me Natacha Romano, considered that this decision was predictable. "As long as they remain in our country, in Mendoza, it makes no difference to us where they are held", did she say. For his part, the president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), Florian Grill, indicated on Tuesday that the FFR had "found a house potentially to rent in Mendoza".

"To deal with the emergency, we are the ones who have advanced the funds for all the expenses that ;there must have been. But the expenses are the responsibility of the families, not the French Rugby Federation", he added during a press conference at the National Rugby Center in Marcoussis, south of Paris.

"Depending on how things are evolving, he continued, it is quite obvious that the professional clubs and players, who have also done work of solidarity, want to contribute (financially), so that the cost for families is not considerable".

Hugo Auradou, 20 years old, under contract with Pau, and Oscar Jegou, 21 years old, player from La Rochelle, face between eight and 20 years in prison. According to Florian Grill, if the case leads to a trial, it should be held within "nine to fourteen months".

Different stories

The two young players are accused of having raped a woman on the night of July 6 to 7 in a room at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza, a thousand kilometers west of the Argentine capital, where the XV of France had just played a test match against Argentina, and the two before obtaining their first selection in blue.

Arrested on July 8 in Buenos Aires, where the French delegation had returned, they were transferred to Mendoza on July 11 and charged the next day with aggravated rape, because it was committed in a meeting. The two players admit to a sexual relationship with the complainant, aged 39, but claim that it was consensual and deny any form of violence.

Me Natacha Romano denounced in the press the violence "atrocious". Mr. Libarona, for his part, assured Monday that "very, very important evidence has appeared". On Tuesday, the prosecution's investigation continued with the start of witness hearings.

Among them the taxi driver who accompanied the alleged victim after the night spent at the hotel. "(The taxi) she took it in the morning, around 8:30 a.m. I saw her calm, nothing strange, he told several media. He requested anonymity and refused to be filmed or photographed.