BUENOS AIRES.- Two players from the rugby team FranceOscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, were arrested in Buenos Aires, Argentinafor alleged sexual abuse of a young woman during the team’s stay in the province of Mendoza to play against Los Pumas of Argentina last weekend.
The Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Sexual Integrity in Mendoza — 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Buenos Aires — requested the arrest after a formal complaint was filed against both athletes, Martín Ahumada, a spokesman for the provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed to AP on Tuesday.
France beat Argentina’s Los Pumas 28-13 last Saturday. The players were arrested on Monday in Buenos Aires, where the French delegation had made a stopover before continuing its tour in Uruguay.
Ahumada explained that the detainees have not yet been formally charged with any crime and that they will soon be transferred to Mendoza to continue the investigation.
The attack took place in a room at the luxurious Diplomatic Hotel in the provincial capital of Mendoza in the early hours of Sunday, lawyer Natacha Romano, who represents the victim, confirmed to AP. Her identity has not been disclosed.
“She was raped repeatedly by both of them,” the lawyer explained. “The abuse was followed by violence and deprivation of liberty because she wanted to leave and they wouldn’t let her. She had to escape.”
The victim, an adult, had met the two French players in a nightclub the night after the match against Los Pumas. After the attack, he filed a complaint on Sunday and agreed to undergo physical examinations, Romano revealed.
“If the accusations are true, they are incredibly serious. The first thing to say is to think of the young girl. This goes against everything that rugby is, does and is built on,” Florian Grill, the club’s president, told French media on his arrival in Buenos Aires. Grill stressed the importance of allowing the investigation to move forward and mentioned continued contact with Argentine and French authorities.
Voices from France:
French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra expressed her support for the victim on social media on Tuesday and confirmed coordination with the FFR and the French embassy in Argentina on the case.
“If the investigation establishes the alleged facts, they constitute an indescribable atrocity,” the official said.
Section Palois Béarn Pyrénées, the French club of second row Auradou, stated in X that it would wait for “more precise information from the French Rugby Federation and the first conclusions of the ongoing investigation” before making any statement.
The rugby players face a prison sentence of four to ten years if found guilty.
The French team, led by coach Fabien Galthié, will play a friendly match against Uruguay on Wednesday, before returning to Buenos Aires for a second match against Argentina on Saturday.
The arrests of the players came amid a scandal involving player Melvyn Jaminet, who was expelled from the French squad on Sunday following a controversial racist post on social media.
Source: AP
