The prosecutor’s office Spain asked for two and a half years in prison Luis Rubialesthe former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), who unleashed a global scandal by kiss forcefully to the player Jennifer Hermoso in the final of the last women’s soccer world cup.
The case against the former Spanish football leader is about to be brought to trial, while the prosecution presented the accusation against him in two ways: for the crime of sexual assault and for having pressured the soccer player to justify and approve his behavior.
From kiss to ruin in 20 days: the chronology of the Rubiales scandal in Spanish football
The event occurred on August 20, 2023 when the women’s soccer team won the world cup in the Australian competition. In the middle of the award ceremony, Rubiales “held Hermoso’s head” “With both hands, and in a surprising manner and without the player’s consent or acceptance, he kissed her on the lips,” the accusation states.
The former leader was harshly questioned for his conduct and the prosecution initiated a file for sexual violence, until on September 10 he presented his resignation to the highest Spanish football body in the midst of the accusation that also involved other leaders.
Luis Rubiales could face 2 and a half years in prison for the Jenni Hermoso kiss scandal.
Details of the judicial process against Rubiales
According to a document from the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office accessed by AFP, the accusation against Luis Rubiales, with trial date to be determined, consists of two edges. In the first instance, he is accused of sexual assault itself that involved the kiss she gave Hermoso, which was without her consent. But he will also be judged by coercionfor having pressured the athlete to “justify and approve the kiss against her will.”
“Before the personal and professional consequences that could result“, Rubiales carried out “acts constant and repeated pressure” on Hermoso, which prevented the latter from “developing her life in peace, tranquility and freely,” indicated the Spanish prosecutor’s office.
In another section, the complaint detailed a special request in the case in which Rubiales is sentenced to prison and complies with the sentence. In that case, he will ask for two years of supervised release, a ban on communicating or approaching Hermoso for 4 years and compensating the player with 50,000 euros.
The complaint against Luis Rubiales
Jennifer Hermoso, for her part, filed the complaint against Rubiales in September 2023. In her statement before a judge at the National Court, Madrid’s highest justice body, she said that the kiss was “unexpected” and “at no time was it consensual.” “, according to judicial sources reported at the time. The soccer player stated that she suffered a “constant harassment” of Rubiales and its environmentor in the following days,
Meanwhile, and for having also participated in the coercion, the prosecution also requested one year and six months in prison for the former women’s coach Jorge Vilda, to the sports director of the men’s team Albert Luke and the former marketing manager of the RFEF Ruben Rivera. Due to coercion, Rubiales and the other three defendants will have to compensate Hermoso with another 50,000 euros together.
The trial begins against Jorge Martínez, former coach of the Boca women’s team, accused of sexual abuse
Rubiales’ defense: “There was no sexual connotation of any kind”
“It was not intentional. There was no sexual connotation of any kind, It was just a moment of happinessthe great joy of the moment,” Rubiales, 46, tried to defend himself in an interview with the British television program Piers Morgan Uncensored last year.
From the beginning, the accused denied that the kiss was forced, even before the Madrid judge who took the investigation into Hermoso, before whom he declared that it had been consented to by the player. In the midst of the commotion, Rubiales initially refused to resign due to his actions in a controversial RFEF assembly on August 25, but in the following days, pressure grew from the government, the justice system and the world of football itself. football until September 10 when he presented his resignation.
Luis Rubiales.
The former federation president, suspended for three years by FIFA, alleged that he was leaving office due to a “disproportionate campaign” against him and the desire not to harm the bid for the 2030 World Cup. Since then he has dedicated himself to making publications about it in his social networks, under his username @luis_rubiales_, where he attacks the soccer player and even makes comments with high xenophobic content.
But this is not the only legal problem of the controversial Spanish football leader, since the Civil Guard recently searched the headquarters of the RFEF and a property of his in Granada, in the south of Spain, in an investigation for alleged corruption, in a case related to the transfer of the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
2024-03-27 20:12:00
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