Kissing scandal: “Sexual assault” – prosecutor demands prison sentence for Luis Rubiales

Football “Sexual Assault”

Kiss scandal – Public prosecutor demands two and a half years in prison for Rubiales

Status: 28.03.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes

The moment of kickoff: Luis Rubiales kisses Jenni Hermoso at the award ceremony after Spain’s World Cup victory

Quelle: picture alliance/ATP photo agency/Richard Callis/SPP

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The scene was superimposed on the Spanish footballers’ World Cup victory. Luis Rubiales kissed national player Jenni Hermoso at the award ceremony. In the sexual assault trial, the ex-association president is now threatened with going to prison.

In the proceedings over the kissing scandal at the 2023 Women’s Football World Cup, the public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday demanded two and a half years in prison for the former Spanish association president Luis Rubiales. Rubiales pressured soccer player Jenni Hermoso “to justify and approve of the kiss that was given to her against her will,” according to the indictment filed with the court. He should also pay the world champion 50,000 euros in compensation, the newspapers “Mundo Deportivo”, “AS”, “Marca” and other Spanish media reported unanimously on Wednesday, citing the judiciary.

Rubiales is being investigated for “sexual assault” and “coercion.” In August 2023, after the Spanish women’s national team’s World Cup victory, the 46-year-old held the player Hermoso’s head with both hands during the award ceremony and kissed her on the mouth. The allegation of coercion relates to the fact that Rubiales and three other football officials put pressure on Hermoso to publicly declare that the kiss was consensual. For the three other football officials, one and a half years in prison were requested for coercion. All four defendants together should also pay Hermoso a further total of 50,000 euros in compensation.

This behavior caused intense international outrage. Rubiales subsequently stated that the kiss was “consensual,” which Hermoso rejected. She filed a complaint. After much hesitation and protesting his innocence, Rubiales finally resigned as head of the association in September. As a result of the incident, the player Hermoso involuntarily became a global symbol for the fight against sexism.

Rubiales banned by sports tribunal

However, Rubiales also faces trouble in another case. He faces arrest when he returns from a stay abroad. The background to this was an investigation into allegedly irregular contracts that were concluded during Rubiales’ five-year presidency of the RFEF football association, a spokesman for the judiciary in Madrid said when asked last Thursday. So far, there is no warrant for the arrest of the 46-year-old, whose lawyer announced that her client would return home from the Dominican Republic on April 6th. Rubiales has denied the allegations.

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Rubiales was recently banned for three years by the Spanish sports court TAD. The court handed out two bans of one and a half years each – one for the non-consensual kiss with Hermoso and the other for an obscene gesture after the final. The TAD confirmed corresponding media reports on Friday upon request.

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Disappointing anniversary

After winning the World Cup final – in addition to the incident with Hermoso – Rubiales braced himself in the stands in the presence of Spain’s Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter Sofia. “I’m really ashamed of that,” Rubiales said on Piers Morgan’s British talk show “Uncensored” in mid-September. “I apologize because I shouldn’t behave like that.”