CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses alleged sexual assault.
Former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales will officially stand trial for the unsolicited kiss of Spanish soccer star Jenni Hermoso, after the country’s high court accepted the case on Wednesday.
Rubiales faces one count of sexual assault for holding Hermoso’s face and her at the end of the FIFA 23 Women’s World Cup and one count of coercion, for behind-the-scenes actions he allegedly committed after the kiss to influence Hermoso into agreeing it was consensual.
If found guilty, Rubiales faces one to three years in prison due to changes made to Spain’s sexual assault laws last year, that define any non-consensual sexual act as sexual harassment. Although he maintains the kiss was in fact consensual, Hermoso persists it was “unwanted and demeaning”.
“I’ve had to bear the consequences of an act that I didn’t provoke, which I didn’t choose or premeditate,” she told GQ Spain in November,
“I’ve received threats and that’s something which you will never get used to.”
The high court’s decision to take on the case comes after Judge de Jorge found in January that the kiss “was not consensual and was a unilateral and unexpected move.”
However he decided there was enough evidence in the case to warrant an official trail, which would examine things such as “whether the aim was erotic or not” and “the state of euphoria and excitement due to the extraordinary sporting triumph”.
The high court also announced it would try three others for coercion: Jorge Vilda, former coach of the women’s team, Albert Luque, the sporting director of the women’s team and Ruben Rivera, head of marketing of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. These three individuals are accused of allegedly influencing Jenni Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual. If found guilty, they could spend a year and a half in prison.
There is no official date set for the high court trial of Luis Rubiales.
