Condemned for sexual assault, but acquitted of the coercion accusation, former president of RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation), Luis Rubiales, is expected to pay a fine of 10,800 euros (R $ 64 thousand) for the kiss he gave in the player Jenni Hermoso , a sentence well below what the prosecution was asking.
During the trial, the prosecution asked Rubiales for two and a half years, a year for sexual assault, for the kiss itself, and a year and a half for the pressure exerted on the player to minimize the gesture.
Spanish justice “condemned former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales to an 18-month fine, worth 20 euros a day, for sexual assault for kissing player Jennifer Hermoso at the Copa do Cup medals ceremony World, “the court said in a statement on Thursday (20).
The decision also stipulates that Rubiales cannot approach Hermoso within 200 meters and cannot communicate with her for a year.
The decision “may be appealed to the criminal division of the national hearing,” the court said.
In the final stretch of the trial, held earlier this month near Madrid, prosecutor Marta Durántez categorically concluded that the kiss Rubiales gave in Hermoso after the Spanish team’s victory at the Women’s World Cup on August 20, 2023 was “not consensual “.
Symbol of the struggle against sexism in sport, hermoso reiterated before the judge that the kiss should never have happened, that she did not authorize him and that she felt “disrespected.”
The scorer of the Spanish team and current striker of the Mexican club Tigres told about the “numerous” times it was requested by RFEF to pronounce to minimize the scandal.
Rubiales, on the other hand, told court that he was “totally safe” that hermose consented to “ok” when he asked him if he could “kiss.”
“I apologized for my behavior because it was not appropriate and, being on that stage, I should have had my head colder and not left me by emotion,” explained the top hat.
His lawyer, Olga Tabau Martínez, asked for his acquittal, claiming that his conduct was “inadequate” but not “criminal”, and denying any coercion, saying that there was no intimidation in the requests of Rubiales and his entourage so that the player would comment on the player kiss.
The other three accused of coercion, former women’s coach Jorge Vilda and two former RFEF employees Rubén Rivera and Albert Luque, who were being tried only for this crime, were acquitted.
