In a shocking turn of events, former Spanish soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales is set to stand trial for kissing national soccer player Jennifer Hermoso without her consent after Spain’s World Cup victory last year. Rubiales is facing one count of sexual assault and one of coercion, with Spanish prosecutors seeking a total of two years and six months in prison for the offenses.
The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation denies any wrongdoing and claims he had received consent from Hermoso. However, Hermoso has said that she did not consent to the kiss and felt disrespected by Rubiales. She has also spoken about receiving threats as a consequence of the incident.
Rubiales has previously apologized for the kiss and has stated that he did ask Hermoso for consent, to which she allegedly replied “vale.” However, it seems that this was not enough to satisfy the authorities. The High Court in Madrid has accepted the case for trial, which will also involve the former coach of the women’s national team, Jorge Vilda, the team’s current sporting director, Albert Luque, and the federation’s head of marketing, Ruben Rivera. They are accused of coercing Hermoso into saying that the kiss was consensual.
The court has set a bail of 65,000 euros for Rubiales’ sexual assault charge and a separate joint bail of 65,000 euros for Rubiales, Vilda, Luque, and Rivera for the coercion charges. The trial will address the allegations of sexual assault and coercion against Rubiales in relation to the unsolicited kiss of Jennifer Hermoso. It remains to be seen how this case will unfold in court.
