French rugby players are cleared of sexual assault in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court on Tuesday dropped aggravated sexual assault charges against two professional French rugby players accused of raping a woman after playing a match in the country earlier this year.

The judge in Mendoza, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of the capital of Buenos Aires, dismissed the case against the 21-year-old athletes, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou, citing insufficient evidence.

The explosive case began in July, when a 39-year-old Argentine woman filed a police complaint alleging that she was beaten, choked and repeatedly raped by the rugby players in their Mendoza hotel room.

The rugby players have admitted to having sex with the plaintiff — whom they met at a Mendoza nightclub while reveling in their July 7 victory against Argentina’s Pumas — but insisted that the encounter was consensual.

The plaintiff can appeal the ruling. She has not said whether she intends to and her defense lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the past few months, the case slowly unraveled as the defense punched holes in the woman’s description of events. A court in September freed the athletes from house arrest and approved their return to France under certain conditions.

The plaintiff’s lawyer has explained any inconsistencies in her account as the result of her “shock and extreme stress.” She underwent physical examinations as part of the investigation and was found to have an acute bleeding ulcer and other injuries that she claimed were related to her assault.

The French Rugby Federation expressed its “relief and satisfaction” with the judge’s decision. It said the athletes, who had been suspended due to the seriousness of the allegations, would be eligible to return to national team.

The federation added that this close shave with the law served as a reminder “of the need to create new conditions to prevent and avoid risky behavior in high-level rugby, in order to train responsible and exemplary players.”

It said the organization had always defended the presumption of innocence and advocated for the athletes’ “dignified and safe conditions” while on trial in Argentina.