Argentina charges 2 visiting French rugby players in a harrowing case of alleged sexual assault

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Prosecutors charged two French rugby players with aggravated sexual assault Friday, the latest development in the case of a woman who said she was repeatedly raped by the athletes after they took her to their hotel room and prevented her from leaving.

The prosecutor's office in the western Argentina city of Mendoza — where the alleged assault took place Sunday following the French team's test match against the Argentine Pumas — ordered the two players, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, to remain under detention until trial.

After being arrested in Buenos Aires, 21-year-old Jegou and 20-year-old Auradou were transferred 1,000 kilometers (some 620 miles) to Mendoza on Thursday for their first court appearance. They chose not to testify in Friday's hearing.

The French Rugby Federation previously said that the players admitted to having sex with the woman but that they described it as consensual and denied any acts of violence.

The account of the assault — provided by Natacha Romano, the lawyer of the woman — has drawn outrage in France and caused a stir in Argentina, where recent scandals involving professional athletes have prompted questions within the greater sports community about misogyny and sexual violence.

Romano told The Associated Press late Friday that the woman was found to have an acute bleeding ulcer and other injuries apparently related to her assault and that she remained hospitalized “in a state of shock and extreme stress."

She said the woman was under strict medical supervision because she suffered a major depressive mood disorder induced by the incident.

The prosecutors said the court would soon decide whether to grant the defendants' request for house arrest.

Romano has said her client says she met one of the rugby players, Auradou, at a nightclub where the team was celebrating their win and went back to his hotel room for another drink. She says Auradou became violent, subjecting her to non-consensual sexual acts and preventing her from leaving before Jegou joined in the assaults some hour later, Romano said.

After escaping the hotel room, Romano said, the woman filed a police complaint and underwent physical examinations.

The charges of aggravated sexual assault in Argentina carry the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The mandatory minimum is eight years.

Authorities said they would move the defendants to another jail later Friday.