Former Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales is about to face trial in February subsequent 12 months for an incident involving an unsolicited kiss on the lips of Women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso, the courtroom overseeing the case introduced Monday.
Rubiales, 46, sparked world condemnation for the kiss, which occurred in the course of the medal ceremony following Spain’s victory over England within the World Cup remaining in Australia final 12 months.
In May, a courtroom dominated Rubiales must be tried for sexual assault over the kiss and for the alleged coercion subsequently exerted to make her say that it was consensual, with out setting a date.
The trial shall be held on the Audiencia Nacional, a Madrid courtroom in command of complicated instances, from February 3 to 19, the courtroom mentioned in a press release.
Public prosecutors have requested a sentence of two-and-a-half years in jail for Luis Rubiales – one 12 months for sexual assault and 18 months for coercion.
The prosecution can also be asking for 2 years’ probation as soon as the sentence has been served and for him to pay 50,000 euros ($54,000) in compensation to the participant.
Rubiales, who can also be below investigation in a separate alleged corruption case involving his reign on the federation, has denied any wrongdoing.
Three of his former associates are additionally being tried for placing stress on Hermoso: former girls’s coach Jorge Vilda, males’s workforce director Albert Luque, and federation advertising and marketing boss Ruben Rivera.
The kiss happened reside in entrance of the world’s cameras, frightening widespread outrage and prompting his suspension by world soccer governing physique FIFA.
At the time, Rubiales brushed it off as “a consensual” peck on the lips, however Hermoso, 34, mentioned it was not.
Under Spanish legislation, a non-consensual kiss might be categorised as sexual assault – a legal class that teams all forms of sexual violence.
Rubiales advised personal Spanish tv station La Sexta in April that he couldn’t perceive how the kiss he gave Hermoso may very well be labeled as sexual assault, saying there was “no sexual context” to it.
He denied accusations that he and different federation officers coerced Hermoso by pressuring her to talk out in his protection after the scandal erupted.
“I have a clear conscience; things have been blown out of proportion,” Rubiales mentioned.
Hermoso filed a lawsuit towards Rubiales in September, telling the decide she had come below stress to defend him each on the flight again from Australia and on a subsequent workforce vacation to Ibiza within the Balearic Islands.
Source: www.dailysabah.com