An Argentine court on Tuesday dismissed rape charges against two French international rugby players who were accused of attacking a woman after playing a match in the country, the players’ lawyers said.
“As we expected, the French players have been acquitted because the (sexual) act was consensual, which means there was no crime and,” defense lawyer German Hanato said after the hearing in the city of Mendoza. There is no doubt that they are innocent.”
Hugo Ouradou and Oscar Jegou, both 21, were arrested in Mendoza, about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) west of the capital Buenos Aires, two days after winning their first international caps for France against Argentina.
His 39-year-old accuser, whom he met at a nightclub on the night of the July 6 match, said he brutally assaulted her in a hotel room.
Ouradou, a member of the French Club Pau, and Jégou, a member of the Club La Rochelle, insisted that they had consensual sex with the woman after a night of drinking.
The players were held in precautionary detention for a little more than a week and then placed under house arrest for about a month before being allowed to return to France in September after prosecutors said the case against them appeared to be weak.
Prosecutors later sought to drop the aggravated rape charges – a charge used for gang rape.
Players returning to their top 14 teams in France were not present in Argentina for Tuesday’s decision.
His Paris lawyer, Antoine Vey, praised his “judicial rehabilitation” on Tuesday.
He said that for the players’ “clubs, families and the (French rugby) federation, this was a day they had been waiting for and, I hope, will close the difficult chapter that they have experienced.”
The complainant has not yet announced whether she plans to appeal the decision.
The charges against Ouradou and Jégou, as well as racist remarks by full-back Melvin Jaminet, for which he was sent home and given a 34-week suspension, overshadowed the French team’s summer tour of Argentina.
French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill last month announced changes to disciplinary measures in the wake of the scandals.
He also vowed to end the “fourth and fifth half” celebrations in Mendoza after the match.
“Financial or sporting sanctions in the future will seem”, he continued, to regret that in previous years “a form of acceptance of these excesses can sometimes be organized.”
“We can’t take all the positives from rugby, ask brands and partners to align their image with our preconceived values and not respect them,” he said.
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