The former president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, is summoned to court on Friday in the investigation into his forced kiss on player Jennifer Hermoso after the world title of the women’s “Roja”, a court announced on Tuesday Madrid.
Luis Rubiales is summoned Friday at 12:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT) by an investigating judge “to be heard as an accused” and to respond to the accusations of “sexual assault” brought against him, the court of the National Audience.
This decision follows the green light given Monday by Judge Francisco de Jorge to the request of the prosecution, which called for proceedings to be initiated against Luis Rubiales for “sexual assault” and “crime of coercion” on Jenni Hermoso.
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The Spanish public prosecutor’s office, which opened a preliminary investigation on August 28 into this case, requested that Mr. Rubiales be heard by the courts as the accused and Jennifer Hermoso as the victim, after receiving a complaint from the player.
The announcement of this summons by the courts comes two days after the resignation of Luis Rubiales, 46, who ended up throwing in the towel after refusing to leave his post since the start of the affair, claiming that this kiss was “consented” – something Hermoso categorically denies.
Luis Rubiales, who was suspended at the end of August by the International Football Federation (Fifa), indicated that he was resigning in particular to concentrate on his defense. “I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power to make it prevail,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
Since a recent reform of the Spanish penal code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a criminal category bringing together all types of sexual violence. According to a spokeswoman for the prosecution, the penalties incurred by Rubiales range from a fine to four years in prison.
The crime of coercion was also retained because, according to the prosecution, “Jenni Hermoso explained that she had been, with her entourage, the victim of constant pressure from Rubiales and her professional entourage so that she justified and approved the facts”.
