A Spanish court condemned Thursday and fined the former soccer chief Luis Rubiales of sexual aggression for the forced kiss that gave the star of the star Jenni Hermoso, but acquitted him of the position of coercion.
The prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of two and a half years for Rubiales, one year for sexual aggression and 18 months per coercion, for having allegedly presumably pressed the player to minimize the incident later.
The judge of the Superior Court of Spain found Rubiales guilty of sexual aggression for the kiss and fined € 10,800 ($ 11,300), but saved a prison sentence. Rubiales was also forbidden to get into a radius of 200 meters of beautiful and communicate with her for a period of one year.
The video images of the scandal that shook the Spanish football shows and then the head of the Federation-Spanish Rubiales squeezed Hermoso’s head at the 2023 World Cup medal cereal in Sydney and kissing her on the lips before to let her go with two slaps on the back.
The global protest about the kiss forced Rubiales to resign in disgrace and promote the prevalence of macho culture and sexism in sports.
Beautiful, 34, said the inaugural day of the trial on February 3 that he felt “disrespected” after a non -consensual kiss that “should not happen in any social or work environment.”
His teammates described under oath how he cried and felt “overwhelmed” after the incident, while his brother Rafael Hermoso has said that he was under pressure to minimize the matter to protect the head of the Federation.
But Rubiales, 47, told the Court that he was “totally safe” of beautiful consented in the kiss when he went up to receive the medal of his winner, who was broadcast live throughout the world and denied pressing her after the incident.
“She squeezed me very strongly under my armpits, lifted me, and when I went down, I asked her if she could kiss you, and she said ‘ok’, that’s what happened,” he said, describing him as “a” one “act” of affection “.
Rubiales admitted that “he made a mistake” in the incident on the podium, saying that he should have “been on a more institutional role”, but denied having committed any crime.
‘Uncontrollable joy’
While his behavior was “inappropriate,” he was not “criminal,” said his lawyer Olga Tunau during his final arguments, calling the kiss an “expression of uncontrollable joy.”
Beautiful video images celebrating and drinking champagne with his teammates in the locker room shortly after the incident shows that the player was not upset by the kiss, he added.
But public prosecutor Marta duringz Gil rejected this line of thought during his final arguments in which he also said that “no doubt” the kiss was “not agreed.”
“How long will we continue to demand a heroic behavior of the victim of sexual assault? Didn’t he have the right to celebrate such a sports triumph? She asked.
The Court acquitted the other three defendants in the case, the national team coach Jorge Vilda and two former officials of the Federation, of the position of coercion.
‘False feminism’
The Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, welcomed the Court’s ruling, saying that she showed that “when there is no consent, there is aggression.”
Rubiales’ position at the stand contrasted with the challenge he showed when the scandal broke.
During a meeting of the emergency federation in August 2023, he minimized the importance of the kiss and the so -called rejected for his resignation, criticizing “false feminism.”
Rubiales resigned in September of that year after the FIFA World Football Government Body suspended it and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged sexual aggression. He had been the head of the Federation since 2018.
Beautiful, the top scorer of all the time of the women’s team in Spain who now plays for the Mexican club Tigres, was not called to the national team immediately after the World Cup.
The new Montse coach explained that he wanted to protect the player and denied omitting her from the team was a “punishment.”
