Spain’s former football federation chief Luis Rubiales gives his highly anticipated version of events on Tuesday in the trial over his forced kiss on Jenni Hermoso that sparked global outrage. The case has riveted the country since opening on February 3 and has turned Hermoso into an icon of the fight against macho culture and sexism in sport. Rubiales was forced to resign in disgrace in 2023 after kissing Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s triumph at that year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia.
Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault for the forced kiss and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso, 34, to downplay the incident.
Rubiales, 47, has called the kiss a “peck between friends celebrating” and denied any coercion.
Up to now he has attended hearings without intervening as a slew of witnesses testified at the National Court near Madrid.
Hermoso told the opening day of the trial she felt “disrespected” after a non-consensual kiss that “should not happen in any social or work setting”.
Her teammates have described how she cried and felt “overwhelmed” following the incident, while her brother Rafael Hermoso has said she came under pressure to downplay the incident to save Rubiales.
Former women’s team manager Jorge Vilda and two ex-federation officials, Ruben Rivera and Albert Luque, are also due to take the stand on Tuesday.
They are accused of trying to coerce Hermoso with prosecutors seeking 18 months’ jail against them.
Fall from grace
Rubiales minimised the importance of the kiss on Hermoso at the time and defied calls for his resignation at an emergency federation meeting in August 2023, railing against “false feminism”.
He resigned in September that year after FIFA suspended him and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged sexual assault.
Rubiales embraced controversy during his tumultuous five-year reign at the helm of the football federation.
He expanded the Spanish Super Cup to a four-team format and signed a lucrative deal to move the competition to Saudi Arabia, angering traditionalists and human rights activists.
In 2022 Spanish media published leaked audio recordings from 2019 that suggested a company called Kosmos owned by former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique made millions of euros in commissions over the deal to relocate the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
Rubiales dismissed the allegations as “falsehoods”, but prosecutors are investigating.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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