Ex-Spanish Soccer President Goes On Trial For Unwanted Kiss At Women’s World Cup | EUROtoday
MADRID (AP) — The former 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 Women’s World Cup last in 2023.
The kiss, which Hermoso stated was with out her consent, marred the celebrations of the ladies’s crew’s achievement.
It sparked widespread outrage in society past soccer, and ignited one of the vital 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 compelled to resign and was banned by FIFA. Rubiales had stated he was the sufferer of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.” He stated the kiss was consensual.

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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 surprising fashion.”
Rubiales might face a positive or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible, in response to court docket officers. A brand new regulation 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 crew coach Jorge Vilda, former sports activities director of Spain’s males’s crew Albert Luque, and the federation’s former head of promoting, Rubén Rivera, needs to be tried for allegedly pressuring Hermoso to defend Rubiales, one thing she refused to do. They all additionally deny wrongdoing. According to the choose, there was enough proof that Rubiales unsuccessfully pressured Hermoso to look in a video he produced and printed whereas public outrage over his actions mounted. The choose stated there was additionally motive to imagine Vilda likewise pressured Hermoso’s brother. Luque and advertising and marketing head Rivera had been additionally concerned within the alleged try to coerce her to assist her disgraced boss, in response to 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 about to testify on the primary day. Among the practically 20 witnesses who’re additionally anticipated to testify are Spain’s males’s nationwide crew coach Luis de la Fuente and a few of Hermoso’s teammates within the girls’s nationwide crew, together with former world participant of the 12 months Alexia Putellas. Rubiales is obligated to attend solely the primary and the final day, in response to the court docket. The 4 defendants are anticipated to talk towards the tip of the trial subsequent week. Rubiales’ daughters are additionally set to testify in some unspecified time in the future.
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Hermoso and her teammates refused to play so long as Rubiales was in cost and returned to the crew 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 aspect. That included the elimination of the time period “women’s” from the official crew identify. FIFA banned Rubiales for 3 years till after the boys’s 2026 World Cup. His ban will expire earlier than the subsequent girls’s match in 2027. Spain’s sports activities authority additionally dominated him unfit to carry a publish in sports activities administration for 3 years.
Rubiales’ different bother
During his time as president of Spanish soccer’s governing physique, Rubiales overhauled the format of the Spanish Super 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 price 40 million euros (then $42 million) per match to the federation. Prosecutors opened a probe of that deal in 2022 following leaked audio between Rubiales and then-Barcelona participant Gerard Piqué concerning thousands and 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.
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