Prosecutors in Argentina have charged two French rugby players with aggravated rape, in the grisly case of a woman who said she was repeatedly assaulted by the athletes after they took her back to their hotel room and prevented her from leaving, reports The Guardian.
The prosecutor’s office in the western city of Mendoza – where the alleged assault took place last Sunday following the French team’s test match against the Argentinian Pumas – ordered the two players, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, to remain in detention until trial.
After being arrested in Buenos Aires, Jegou, 21, and Auradou, 20, were transferred 1,000km (620 miles) to Mendoza on Thursday for their first court appearance. They chose not to testify in Friday’s hearing.
The French Rugby Federation had previously said that the players admitted to having consensual sex with the alleged victim and denied any acts of violence.
The prosecutors said the court would soon decide whether to grant the defendants’ request for house arrest.
Read more of this report from The Associated Press published by The Guardian.