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 Girls’s World Cup ultimate 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 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 attempting to coerce Hermoso to publicly assist him. A decide dominated that Rubiales’ kiss was “unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a surprising fashion.”
Rubiales might face a tremendous or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible, in line with court docket officers. A 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 cost 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 decide additionally dominated that together with Rubiales, former Spain ladies’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 selling, Rubén Rivera, needs to be tried for allegedly pressuring Hermoso to defend Rubiales, one thing she refused to do. All of them additionally deny wrongdoing. In accordance with the decide, there was adequate proof that Rubiales unsuccessfully pressured Hermoso to seem in a video he produced and printed whereas public outrage over his actions mounted. The decide stated there was additionally motive to imagine Vilda likewise pressured Hermoso’s brother. Luque and advertising head Rivera had been additionally concerned within the alleged try and coerce her to assist her disgraced boss, in line with the decide. 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 anticipated to final not less than 10 days. Hermoso is ready to testify on the primary day. Among the many almost 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 ladies’s nationwide crew, together with former world participant of the yr Alexia Putellas. Rubiales is obligated to attend solely the primary and the final day, in line 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.
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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 ladies’s aspect. That included the elimination of the time period “women’s” from the official crew identify. FIFA banned Rubiales for three years till after the boys’s 2026 World Cup. His ban will expire earlier than the subsequent ladies’s match 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 bother
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 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 hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in commissions. Piqué’s sports activities leisure firm Kosmos was concerned within the take care of the federation and Saudi Arabia. They denied wrongdoing.