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Luis Rubiales has been fined more than €10,000 ($11,400) after being found guilty of sexual assault for kissing Jenni Hermoso after Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup — but he will not go to prison.
The prosecution had requested a one-year prison sentence if the former head of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was found guilty of sexual assault. The ruling from Spain’s High Court bans Rubiales from going within 200 metres of Hermoso, and from communicating with her for one year. He was also ordered to pay a further €3,000 for moral damages and half of Hermoso’s legal costs.
Since Rubiales kissed Hermoso as the players received their winners’ medals in Sydney on August 20, 2023, he has maintained that the kiss was consensual. Hermoso has consistently maintained she did not give consent and testified to that effect in court.
The 47-year-old and three other RFEF employees — the former Spain women’s coach Jorge Vilda, the former Newcastle United forward and ex-RFEF sporting director Luque and former marketing director Ruben Rivera — have been acquitted of the charge of coercion.
The prosecution had alleged that the four men, who denied any wrongdoing, had pressured Hermoso into supporting Rubiales’ version of what happened, and requested 18-month prison sentences if they were found guilty.
The court ruled that Rubiales, Vilda, Luque and Rivera were not guilty of coercion as none of the statements made by Hermoso in the trial “describe any act of violence or intimidation carried out by any of the defendants or third parties”.
The sentence states that the only phrase which “could have a threatening content” was Vilda speaking of “consequences” for Hermoso, as her brother Rafael testified during the trial. But the court said that this could not “be more abstract and generic” as the consequences were “unknown” given Vilda “did not state them”.
Luque accused Hermoso of “jumping on the bandwagon to kill” Rubiales and said she would “find herself all alone, all alone” in messages sent to the player’s friend Ana Ecube, which were shown to the court during the trial. But the court said Luque had not committed “any act of violence or intimidation” because while the messages were “highly unfortunate” and contained “a wish of ill will for the player”, they did not “contain any threat”.
Rubiales and the three co-accused stood trial earlier in February over a two-week period, as Judge Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto heard testimonies from Hermoso, her Spain team-mates, her family, her friends, the four defendants, the current head coach of the Spain women’s team and a number of other employees at the Spanish football federation (RFEF).
In the written reasons for the verdict, it made clear that the judge “attributes full credibility” to Hermoso’s version of what happened after the World Cup final, and that there was “no reason or motive for her to be untruthful in her narration of the facts with the sole purpose of harming Rubiales”.
The decision of the High Court can be appealed before the criminal chamber of Spain’s Audiencia Nacional.
(Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
