Rubiales to appeal fine for Hermoso forced kiss

Ex-Spanish shot main Luis Rubiales volition entreaty astatine the Supreme Court aft good for forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso is upheld.

Disgraced erstwhile Spanish Football Federation main Luis Rubiales volition entreaty to the Supreme Court the confirmation of his $12,600 (10,800-euro) good for forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso, his lawyer said connected Wednesday.

After a keenly awaited proceedings that gripped the country, Spain’s apical transgression tribunal successful February found Rubiales blameworthy of intersexual assault for the buss astatine the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which generated planetary outrage.

The Audiencia Nacional besides cleared him of a abstracted accusation of coercion for allegedly forcing Hermoso to downplay the incidental afterwards.

Both parties contested the sentence, which fell abbreviated of the two-and-a-half-year situation word sought by prosecutors and infuriated feminist groups that condemned the punishment arsenic excessively lenient.

Rubiales maintained that the buss was a consensual “peck” betwixt friends celebrating during a medal ceremonial aft prima guardant Hermoso had conscionable helped Spain bushed England successful the last successful Sydney, denying immoderate coercion.

The tribunal said successful a connection connected Wednesday that it had rejected the appeals of the defence squad and prosecutors, maintaining the condemnation and the fine.

“The buss was not consensual”, and Hermoso “expressed her displeasure with what happened, arsenic she herself confirmed successful the trial, arsenic good arsenic her teammates”, the tribunal wrote.

“It cannot beryllium said that a buss successful those circumstances was predominant oregon communal oregon usual.”

The tribunal besides confirmed that Rubiales, erstwhile women’s nationalist squad manager Jorge Vilda and 2 erstwhile elder federation officials, Albert Luque and Ruben Rivera, were cleared of the coercion charge.

Rubiales’s lawyer, Olga Tubau, told the AFP quality bureau that helium would entreaty the verdict astatine the Supreme Court.

A abstracted petition by the prosecutors to rerun the trial, notably owed to doubts implicit the judge’s impartiality, was dismissed.

The tribunal besides maintained a prohibition connected Rubiales from going wrong a 200-metre (656-foot) radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for 1 year.

The buss led to a planetary uproar that forced Rubiales to relinquish his post, saw him banned from each football-related enactment for 3 years and plunged the federation into a prolonged play of turmoil.

The matter made Hermoso, the all-time apical scorer for the nationalist women’s team, an icon of the combat against sexism and macho civilization successful sport.

Rubiales is besides embroiled successful an probe into alleged fiscal irregularities totalling millions of euros related to the Spanish Super Cup’s relocation to Saudi Arabia, which progressive a institution owned by Barcelona large Gerard Pique.

Rubiales has dismissed the allegations arsenic “falsehoods”.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies