The National Court is already awaiting Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). This Tuesday, just one day after the court opened criminal proceedings for the kiss against soccer player Jennifer Hermoso, Judge Francisco de Jorge has agreed to call the former director as a defendant. And he has set the date and time: 12:00 this Friday, September 15. A decision that comes after the magistrate accepted the Prosecutor’s complaint for processing, which has put on the table an alleged crime of sexual assault and another of coercion.
Through a brief resolution, of just one paragraph, the judge thus gives another quick boost to the Rubiales case. First, on Monday the magistrate ordered the Judicial Police to obtain several videos “related to the events”, published in different media (such as EL PAÍS, RTVE and As): both the kiss (“from all angles”) and “the minutes immediately before and after”, as well as “the celebration in the locker room” and “on the Spanish women’s soccer team bus”. Added to this initiative is now the taking of Rubiales’ statement, which the Prosecutor’s Office requested last week when presenting his complaint.
In its complaint, the public ministry also requested that Hermoso’s testimony be collected, but Judge De Jorge has not promoted that point at the moment. Even so, the case already includes the player’s version of what happened on August 20, during the celebration of the women’s team’s victory in the World Cup. The soccer player not only released a statement in the following days to emphasize that the kiss was not consensual —“I felt vulnerable and the victim of an attack, an impulsive, sexist act and without any type of consent on my part.” […]. “I was not respected,” her text said. But, in addition, she went last week to the headquarters of the State Attorney General’s Office to formalize her complaint and provide her testimony, which the public prosecution sent to the judge in a pendrive.
He Rubiales case It has generated great international expectation and an intense wave of solidarity with Hermoso and her companions. Media from all over the world have been interested in a scandal that, after finally being prosecuted, has ended up in the National Court. The court has assumed jurisdiction as these are two alleged crimes committed by a Spaniard abroad and against a Spanish woman, since the incident occurred in Sydney (Australia), which hosted the final of the Women’s Soccer World Cup.
Rubiales will now have the opportunity to defend himself before the judge. The former president of the RFEF has assured that the kiss with Hermoso was consensual, even accusing the player of lying. “I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power to make it prevail. “My daughters, my family and the people who love me have suffered the effects of excessive persecution, as well as many falsehoods,” the former director repeated in a statement released on Sunday, when he announced that he was resigning as president of the Federation and as vice president of the UEFA. FIFA had already had him suspended since August 26.
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