Ex-Spanish Soccer President Goes On Trial For Unwanted Kiss At Women’s World Cup

MADRID (AP) — The previous president of the Spanish soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, goes on trial Monday accused of sexual assault for kissing ahead Jenni Hermoso after Spain’s victory on the Ladies’s World Cup remaining in 2023.

The kiss, which Hermoso stated was with out her consent, marred the celebrations of the ladies’s group’s achievement.

It sparked widespread outrage in society past soccer, and ignited one of the crucial embarrassing scandals within the historical past of Spanish soccer.

Rubiales additionally grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture whereas standing close to Spain’s Queen Letizia and Princess Sofia amid celebrations of Spain’s victory over England in Australia. He has denied any wrongdoing, however was pressured to resign and was banned by FIFA. Rubiales had said he was the victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.” He stated the kiss was consensual.

The 47-year-old Rubiales is accused of sexual assault and of making an attempt to coerce Hermoso to publicly assist him. A choose dominated that Rubiales’ kiss was “unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a shocking vogue.”

Rubiales might face a high-quality or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible, in keeping with court docket officers. A new law eradicated the distinction between “sexual harassment” and “sexual assault,” sanctioning any unconsented sexual act. Prosecutors, Hermoso and Spain’s gamers’ affiliation desire a jail sentence of two and a half years for Rubiales, plus a fee of fifty,000 euros ($51,800) for damages, and for him to be banned from working as a sports activities official. Hermoso can also be asking for a court docket order banning Rubiales from being close to her.

The choose additionally dominated that together with Rubiales, former Spain girls’s nationwide group coach Jorge Vilda, former sports activities director of Spain’s males’s group Albert Luque, and the federation’s former head of selling, Rubén Rivera, ought to be tried for allegedly pressuring Hermoso to defend Rubiales, one thing she refused to do. All of them additionally deny wrongdoing. Based on the choose, there was enough proof that Rubiales unsuccessfully pressured Hermoso to look in a video he produced and revealed whereas public outrage over his actions mounted. The choose stated there was additionally cause to imagine Vilda likewise pressured Hermoso’s brother. Luque and advertising head Rivera have been additionally concerned within the alleged try and coerce her to assist her disgraced boss, in keeping with the choose. Prosecutors, Hermoso and Spain’s gamers’ affiliation desire a jail sentence of 1 and a half years for the three defendants.

The trial begins on Monday and is predicted to final not less than 10 days. Hermoso is ready to testify on the primary day. Among the many practically 20 witnesses who’re additionally anticipated to testify are Spain’s males’s nationwide group coach Luis de la Fuente and a few of Hermoso’s teammates within the girls’s nationwide group, together with former world participant of the 12 months Alexia Putellas. Rubiales is obligated to attend solely the primary and the final day, in keeping with the court docket. The 4 defendants are anticipated to talk towards the top of the trial subsequent week. Rubiales’ daughters are additionally set to testify sooner or later.

Hermoso and her teammates refused to play so long as Rubiales was in cost and returned to the group solely weeks later when the federal government mediated an settlement with the federation interim president to overtake its protocols and provides extra assist to its girls’s facet. That included the elimination of the time period “girls’s” from the official group identify. FIFA banned Rubiales for three years till after the boys’s 2026 World Cup. His ban will expire earlier than the following girls’s event in 2027. Spain’s sports activities authority additionally dominated him unfit to carry a put up in sports activities administration for 3 years.

Rubiales’ different hassle

Throughout his time as president of Spanish soccer’s governing physique, Rubiales overhauled the format of the Spanish Tremendous Cup in 2020, making a four-team mini-tournament and moved the competitors to Saudi Arabia as a part of a deal that was reportedly value 40 million euros (then $42 million) per event to the federation. Prosecutors opened a probe of that deal in 2022 following leaked audio between Rubiales and then-Barcelona participant Gerard Piqué relating to hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in commissions. Piqué’s sports activities leisure firm Kosmos was concerned within the cope with the federation and Saudi Arabia. They denied wrongdoing.