Former Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales will appear on Friday before an examining magistrate due to the investigation into his forced kiss with Jenni Hermoso after the Women’s World Cup final. He will be “heard as an accused” and will respond to accusations of “sexual assault,” a Madrid court stated on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old man kissed Hermoso following Spain’s triumph in Sydney on August 20, which she says was not consensual, while Rubiales insists it was.
Judge Francisco de Jorge of the National Court admitted a complaint against Rubiales on Monday filed by Spanish prosecutors last week regarding “alleged crimes of sexual assault and coercion.”
Under a recent reform of the Spanish penal code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a criminal category that groups together all types of sexual violence. The penalties for a forced kiss can range from a fine to four years in prison, according to sources from the public prosecutor’s office.
Rubiales stepped down as the Spanish Football Federation’s President on Sunday but continued to defend himself over the kiss. “I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power so that it prevails,” Rubiales wrote in an open letter.
Hermoso, 33, who plays for Mexican club Pachuca, has said the unwanted kiss left her feeling “vulnerable and like the victim of an assault,” describing it on social media as “an impulsive, macho act, out of place and with no type of consent on my part.”
She also accused Rubiales of pressuring her to speak out in his defense immediately after the furor over the kiss erupted, which prosecutors said could be considered a crime of coercion.
AFP
