The State Court in Madrid has approved the initiation of an investigation into the Spanish kissing scandal involving the resigned football association president Luis Rubiales. The court announced that it was about sexual aggression and coercion against world champion Jennifer Hermoso. Rubiales kissed Hermoso uninvited on the mouth at the awards ceremony in Sydney on August 20th.
With the decision, the responsible examining judge at the State Court, Francisco de Jorge, approved a request from the public prosecutor’s office last Friday. In one of his first orders in the proceedings, de Jorge requested video footage from several media outlets of the moment of the kiss in Sydney.
It is still unclear whether the investigation will actually lead to a criminal trial in which Rubiales would have to take a seat in the dock. According to experts, the 46-year-old former professional would face a prison sentence of between one and four years if convicted.
Rubiales announced his resignation late on Sunday evening after three weeks of brusquely rejecting all such demands and portraying himself as a victim of “false feminism”. In his letter of resignation he also showed no remorse, but emphasized again that there was an unjustified campaign against him and that he would continue to fight for the truth. For him this means that the scandalous kiss took place by mutual consent. However, Hermoso has already contradicted this several times.
The world association FIFA has already suspended Rubiales for 90 days and initiated disciplinary proceedings.
