Luis Rubiales, Spain’s former soccer chief, will stand trial on a rely of sexual assault for grabbing the pinnacle of Jennifer Hermoso, a star participant, and forcibly kissing her on the mouth on the Ladies’s World Cup medal ceremony in August.
The choice on Wednesday night by Spain’s Nationwide Courtroom got here after a decide concluded in January that Mr. Rubiales needs to be held to account for the kiss, which the decide stated “was nonconsensual” and throughout the bounds of the “intimacy of sexual relations.”
Public prosecutors and Ms. Hermoso’s attorneys are in search of a complete of two and a half years of jail time for Mr. Rubiales: one yr for the sexual assault cost and an extra 18 months in reference to a coercion cost. Mr. Rubiales is accused of pressuring Ms. Hermoso to point out help for him after the kiss.
Three different former soccer officers, together with Jorge Vilda, the previous girls’s staff’s coach, are additionally accused of coercion. They might every face 18 months in jail.
The affirmation that Mr. Rubiales will face a rely of sexual assault is the most recent growth in a high-profile case that has disrupted soccer in Spain and fueled a public reckoning about sexism and energy imbalances.
Mr. Rubiales initially resisted calls to resign as president of the Royal Spanish Soccer Federation and as a vice chairman of UEFA, European soccer’s governing physique, however he stepped down after a court docket issued a restraining order in opposition to him. FIFA, soccer’s governing physique, barred him from the game for 3 years.
Mr. Rubiales was briefly arrested in April as a part of a wide-ranging investigation into corruption and cash laundering linked to taking Spain’s Tremendous Cup event to Saudi Arabia. He’s additionally underneath investigation on allegations of hiring detectives to spy on the pinnacle of Spain’s gamers’ union; misusing federation funds to pay for private bills; and internet hosting a intercourse occasion, paid for with federation funds, in Granada in 2020 — all claims that emerged after official complaints have been made to prosecutors.
Mr. Rubiales has denied any wrongdoing.
The court docket set his bail at 65,000 euros (about $70,000) on the sexual assault cost and one other €65,000 to be posted collectively with the three different former officers who’re additionally accused of coercion.
