Hermoso testifies in sexual assault case after kiss at Women’s World Cup
MADRID — The Spanish participant kissed on the lips by the soccer president on the Women’s World Cup last appeared in court docket on Tuesday to testify within the sexual assault case in opposition to the previous official.
Jenni Hermoso was on the Madrid court docket to offer her model of the kiss by Luis Rubiales following Spain’s victory over England within the last in Sydney in August.
“Everything went well,” Hermoso advised reporters afterwards. “The judicial process will continue its course, and thanks for the support that many of you had given to me.”
The incident sparked outrage throughout the soccer world and ignited one of many worst crises within the historical past of the game in Spain. It additionally led to a boycott of the nationwide group by the World Cup-winning gamers, and to the eventual resignation of Rubiales regardless of his denial of wrongdoing and his allegation that the kiss was consensual.
Hermoso was anticipated to reiterate in court docket her allegations that the kiss was undesirable and Rubiales and his employees tried to stress her and her household to downplay the incident that tarnished Spain’s first Women’s World Cup title.
The testimony was behind shut doorways. Spanish media stated Hermoso requested the decide to maintain her court docket look as personal as doable. She arrived sporting a gray coat and waved to journalists earlier than getting into the court docket by way of considered one of its principal entrances alongside together with her attorneys.
Spanish state prosecutors accused Rubiales of sexual assault and coercion, alleging he tried to persuade Hermoso and her kin to publicly downplay the kiss.
The decide can be listening to testimony from different World Cup-winning gamers, coaches and federation officers, earlier than deciding whether or not to begin a trial.
Rubiales beforehand denied wrongdoing to the decide who imposed a restraining order on him to not contact Hermoso.
The 33-year-old Hermoso, the document scorer for Spain’s girls’s group, stated final 12 months she acquired threats within the fallout from the kiss, although she didn’t elaborate.
Hermoso turned considerably of a celeb in Spain after coming ahead to denounce the kiss and assist promote a “Me Too” motion within the nation. She was one of many New Year’s Eve presenters on public tv on Saturday, calling for a 2024 with extra equality.
The boycott of the nationwide group ended final 12 months after gamers got ensures of change inside the federation following the intervention of presidency officers.
Based on a sexual consent regulation handed final 12 months, Rubiales might face a high quality or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible, based on the prosecutors’ workplace in Madrid. The new regulation eradicated the distinction between “sexual harassment” and “sexual assault,” sanctioning any unconsented sexual act.
FIFA banned Rubiales for 3 years till after the boys’s 2026 World Cup. His ban will expire earlier than the subsequent girls’s event in 2027.
He resigned because the federation president and as a UEFA vp on Sept. 10 amid mounting stress in Spain from lawmakers and gamers. One day later, UEFA thanked Rubiales for his service.
