TWO FRENCH RUGBY players held in Argentina for almost two months on rape charges headed home Tuesday after a court allowed them to return to France pending the conclusion of their case.
Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou arrived at Buenos Aires airport on Tuesday evening and headed for passport control without speaking to the press. The players were due to board a flight to Paris shortly before midnight and were expected to arrive on Wednesday, their lawyer Rafael Cuneo Libarona said.
Earlier in the day a court in Mendoza, about 1,000 km west of the capital Buenos Aires, ruled that the duo can leave the country “from this moment,” it said in a statement.
Jegou and Auradou, both 21, were arrested in July, two days after winning their first international caps against Argentina in Mendoza.
They were charged with the aggravated rape of a 39-year-old woman who alleged they assaulted her in a hotel room after a night out following the match.
The men deny the accusation, saying sex with the woman had been consensual.
They were released from detention into house arrest on 17 July, and freed under supervision last month.
The pair were allowed to travel from Mendoza to Buenos Aires last week pending a hearing into a request for the charges to be dropped.
A date for that hearing has yet to be set.
Tuesday’s ruling requires the pair to “appear if they are summoned to the Argentine consulate in France,” to report virtually “as often as required,” or return “to appear in Mendoza if requested.”
A judge also rejected a request from the accuser for further psychological examinations of the rugby players.
The French Rugby Federation welcomed Tuesday’s ruling, and said the men must be considered innocent until proven otherwise.
