Judge Francisco de Jorge, instructor of the National Court, has accepted for processing this Monday the complaint presented by the Prosecutor’s Office against the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, for the non-consensual kiss he gave to the player Jennifer Hermoso during the celebration of the victory of the women’s team in the World Cup. The magistrate has thus opened criminal proceedings against the former director and has already begun to collect videos about what happened, as recorded in an order signed this September 11. In his complaint, the public ministry sees a possible crime of sexual assault and another of coercion.
Despite the requests that the Prosecutor’s Office put on the table last week to promote the procedure – it requested that Rubiales be summoned to testify as a defendant, and also collect the soccer player’s testimony -, the judge has chosen first to focus on other evidence. Jorge has ordered, “for now,” to obtain a whole battery of videos “related to the facts.” Both the kiss and the celebration of the athletes in the locker room and on the bus, as stated in its resolution.
In this sense, the instructor has required the Judicial Police to address various media outlets (EL PAÍS, RTVE, As y The Vanguard) to collect images of the moment of the kiss “from all angles”, as well as “the minutes immediately before and after”. Also, highlights the car, the videos “of the celebration in the locker room” and “on the bus of the Spanish women’s soccer team.”
With this decision, the National Court assumes jurisdiction and gives the starting signal to the judicialization of the Rubiales case, which has shaken sport and Spanish society for three weeks. Furthermore, the admission for processing occurs only a few hours after the federation leader announced his resignation as president of the RFEF and as vice president of UEFA. Rubiales had been provisionally suspended by FIFA since August 26. “After the swift suspension carried out by FIFA, plus the rest of the procedures opened against me, it is evident that I will not be able to return to my position. Insisting on waiting and clinging to it is not going to contribute anything positive, neither to the Federation nor to Spanish football. Among other things, because there are de facto powers that will prevent my return,” he defended himself this Sunday in a statement.
The case begins to heat up with two crimes under the radar. The lieutenant prosecutor of the Court, Marta Durántez, signs the complaint against Rubiales for alleged sexual assault and coercion. On the one hand, the public ministry understands that “the sexual act” suffered by the soccer player “was not consensual”: she “gives him a kiss on the mouth while holding Jennifer Hermoso’s head with both hands, without her consent.” ”. And on the other hand, based on the statement given by the player at the headquarters of the State Attorney General’s Office, the accusation adds that the president of the Federation and his entourage “constantly and repeatedly” pressured the athlete to go out in public. to “justify and approve” the facts: “Hermoso suffered a situation of harassment, against the development of his life in peace, tranquility and freely,” the complaint emphasizes.
The Penal Code provides for prison sentences for both crimes: from one to four years for sexual assault, and up to three years for coercion. However, in certain circumstances, it provides for the possibility that only fines may be imposed, depending on “the seriousness” and “entity” of the facts.
Before the admission of the Prosecutor’s complaint became known, the Government’s delegate against Gender Violence, Victoria Rosell, was already celebrating Rubiales’ resignation and expressed her wish that he would not be able to hold a similar position again. “What I hope is that he is disqualified in a sentence, not that he is voluntary. […] We hope that it is a disqualification sentence that will not allow him to return, because that is what the law provides for,” said the representative of the Executive.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes in Facebook y Twitterclick here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
