Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S National Court has convicted the former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales of sexual assault over the infamous kiss planted on Jenni Hermoso after the 2023 World Cup final.
Rubiales has been fined €10,800 but was acquitted of coercing Hermoso into publicly saying that the kiss was consensual.
Thursday’s ruling from Judge Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto also prohibits Rubiales from approaching Hermoso within a radius of 200 metres and any form of communication with her for a year.
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Prosecutors had wanted Rubiales jailed for two-and-a-half years.
The judge also acquitted three others on coercion charges, namely Albert Luque, former director of the men’s national team; Jorge Vilda, former coach of the women’s national team; and Ruben Rivera, former head of marketing at the football federation.
At the two week trial which ended last Friday, Hermoso said she did not consent to the former president kissing her during the medal ceremony on August 20 in Sydney.
She also stated that she did not hear Rubiales ask him ‘can I give you a kiss?’, as Rubiales had claimed.
His defence alleged that Hermoso did not consider the kiss as a sexual assault.
After being banned by FIFA on August 26, 2023, Rubiales resigned as federation president on September 10- 21 days after the kiss- amidst strong public and political pressure to quit.
