Luis Rubiales, the previous head of Spain’s soccer federation, has been discovered responsible of kissing participant Jenni Hermoso with out her consent. He has been fined over €10,000 (£8,275) by Spain’s Excessive Courtroom, although he was acquitted of coercion.
The incident occurred after Spain’s girls’s soccer group received the 2023 World Cup in Sydney. Whereas the gamers have been receiving their medals, Rubiales grabbed Hermoso by the pinnacle and kissed her on the lips. This led to protests and requires Rubiales to resign.
Prosecutors had requested for Rubiales to be jailed, however he insisted in court docket final week that he was “completely certain” Hermoso had given her consent. He described the kiss as a “spontaneous act of affection.”
Nonetheless, Hermoso testified that she had not given consent and stated the incident “stained one of many happiest days of my life.”
Rubiales was accused of sexual assault and making an attempt to pressure Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual, although he was cleared of those costs.
The kiss was seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide and sparked a motion in Spain’s girls’s soccer, with gamers calling for an finish to sexism and equal remedy with their male counterparts.
Rubiales resigned in September 2023 after weeks of refusing to step down. This got here after Fifa suspended him and Spanish prosecutors started an investigation.
