Disgraced former Spanish soccer federation President Luis Rubiales will enchantment to the Supreme Court after Spain’s prime legal courtroom upheld his 10,800 euro ($12,634) advantageous for forcibly kissing participant Jennifer Hermoso, his lawyer stated Wednesday.
The ruling adopted a high-profile trial that captivated the nation. In February, the Audiencia Nacional discovered Rubiales responsible of sexual assault for the unsolicited kiss through the 2023 Women’s World Cup – an incident that sparked world outrage.
The courtroom, nevertheless, acquitted him of a separate coercion cost associated to allegations that he pressured Hermoso to publicly downplay the episode.
Both events had contested the sentence, which fell in need of the two.5-year jail time period sought by prosecutors and angered feminist teams that condemned the punishment as too lenient.
Rubiales maintained the kiss was a consensual “peck” between mates celebrating through the medal ceremony after Hermoso had helped Spain defeat England within the remaining in Sydney. He denied any coercion.
In an announcement Wednesday, the courtroom stated it had rejected the appeals of each the protection and the prosecutors, upholding Rubiales’ conviction and the advantageous.
“The kiss was not consensual,” the courtroom wrote, including that Hermoso “expressed her displeasure with what happened, as she herself confirmed in the trial, as well as her teammates.”
“It cannot be said that a kiss in those circumstances was frequent, common or usual,” it stated.
The courtroom additionally confirmed that Rubiales, former ladies’s nationwide group supervisor Jorge Vilda, and two former senior federation officers – Albert Luque and Ruben Rivera – had been cleared of the coercion cost.
Rubiales’ lawyer, Olga Tubau, instructed Agence France-Presse (AFP) he would enchantment the decision on the Supreme Court.
Federation in turmoil
A separate request by prosecutors to rerun the trial – citing issues over the choose’s impartiality – was dismissed.
The courtroom additionally maintained a ban prohibiting Rubiales from coming inside 200 meters (656 ft) of Hermoso or speaking together with her for one 12 months.
The kiss sparked a worldwide uproar that pressured Rubiales to resign, led to a three-year ban from all football-related exercise, and plunged the federation into a protracted disaster.
The case turned Hermoso, the all-time main scorer for Spain’s ladies’s nationwide group, into a logo within the combat towards sexism and macho tradition in sport.
Rubiales can also be below investigation for alleged monetary irregularities involving thousands and thousands of euros linked to the relocation of the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, in a deal involving an organization owned by former Barcelona star Gerard Pique.
Rubiales has dismissed the allegations as “falsehoods.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com