Jenni Hermoso will also appeal the sentence that condemned Luis Rubiales to a fine for the non-consensual kiss in the mouth he gave the player during the celebration of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which the former Spanish football cartola has already said he would.
The sentence issued on Thursday (20) considered the former president of RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) guilty of sexual aggression, for which he imposed a fine of 10,800 euros (R $ 64 thousand) and the prohibition of approaching or approaching or contact the victim for a year.
The magistrate, however, acquitted him with the crime of coercion, as he found no violence or intimidation in his pressure on the women’s team striker to minimize the gesture.
Hermoso’s lawyer, Ángel Chavaría, told AFP that “it is his intention” to appeal the decision.
The judge, Manuel Fernández-Prieto, determined that Rubiales “unexpectedly performed an act that violated someone else’s sexual freedom without the consent of the victim.”
The judge justified the low sentence based on the fact that aggression “always being reprehensible, fits the minor intensity (…) of the Penal Code, because there was no violence or intimidation”.
During the trial, the Spanish team player, and current Mexican club striker Tigres, reiterated that she never consented to the kiss and told the “countless” times she was requested by RFEF to pronounce to minimize the scandal.
Rubiales, on the other hand, told the court that he was “absolutely certain” that hermose consent.
“I think the conviction for sexual aggression is correct. What I find a little surprising, strange, (is) that there is no condemnation for coercion,” said Irene Paredes, a teammate of hermosa in the national team and that witnessed to her advantage in the trial.
Spain Minister Félix Bolaños told reporters on Friday that “something was clear, a non-consensual kiss is a sexual aggression,” and thanked the player for his “courage” for “taking the initiative to denounce the crime at a difficult time. “
The other three accused of coercion, former female team coach Jorge Vilda and two former RFEF employees Rubén Rivera and Albert Luque, who were being tried only for this crime, were acquitted.
Since a reform of the Spanish Penal Code last year, a non -consensual kiss can be considered sexual aggression, a criminal category that groups all types of sexual violence.
The trial of Rubiales and his intimate circle became a symbol in the fight against sexism in Spanish sport and gave rise to the hashtag #Seacabó, the flag of a movement to support the players.
Rubiales, 47, is also under judicial investigation for alleged corruption and irregular contracts during his presidency of RFEF, especially the agreement that took the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
