Four footballers of the Vélez Sarsfield football club were provisionally detained Monday as part of an investigation into allegations they raped a woman at a hotel room earlier this month.
The four players – Uruguayan goalkeeper Sebastián Sosa, Paraguayan midfielder José Florentín and two Argentines, defender Braian Cufré and striker Abiel Osorio – were ordered held for 48 hours until a judge decides whether they should remain under arrest pending the investigation.
Their detention followed a request by prosecutor María Eugenia Posse following a three-hour interview with the alleged victim.
In a statement broadcast on TV news channels, the accuser's lawyer Patricia Neme said there were "sufficient elements to request pre-trial detention" as the four had "sufficient means" to flee if they wanted to avoid trial.
Neme said that her client had “broke down because she had to remember the whole sequence of events she had lived through.”
A sports journalist, 24, alleged she was invited by Sosa via Instagram to a hotel room in Tucumán's provincial capital, where the Vélez team was lodged after a match. When she arrived, the other three footballers were already waiting.
She said she felt dizzy after a few drinks, lay down on a bed, and was then raped.
The plaintiff believes she was drugged and the results of toxicological tests will take up to 20 days, the Clarín newspaper reported.
Vélez, based in Buenos Aires, said in a club statement Monday it had suspended the contracts of the four players and ordered an internal investigation. When the accusation was first made, club bosses had sidelined the players from the playing staff.
"The Club reiterates its deepest concern about the reported events, which are clearly contrary to the principles and values of our institution," it said. “We remain at the disposal of the courts in order to clarify the facts and we will continue to inform them of the measures that will be taken.”
This is not the first time Vélez has been embroiled in such controversies.
In 2020, the club had to deal with gender violence and sexual abuse allegations involving its former star midfielder Thiago Almada, who later played for Argentina during their successful Qatar 2022 World Cup campaign, and defender Miguel Brizuela.
Judge Lucas Taboada will decide Wednesday whether to extend the players' detention.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
Comments