The Spanish football player Jenni Hermoso believes that the guilty judgment against Luis Rubiales is an 'important precedent'.
Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish football federation, was found guilty of sexual violence after kissing Hermoso without her permission during the World Cup finale of 2023.
He is forbidden to go within a radius of 200 meters from the striker and has been instructed to pay a fine of € 20 per day for the next 18 months – a total amount of £ 8,250.
Public prosecutors searched for two and a half years in prison against Rubiales for sexual abuse for the forced kiss and is said to force Hermoso to trivialize the incident.
However, he avoided a custodial sentence, in addition to the accusation of coercion.
“After all, this will create an important precedent in a social environment in which a lot still has to be done,” Hermoso wrote on Instagram.
'My heart is full of every person who has been, is and will stay with me in this fight.
“And now it's over.”
Rubiales was accused of sexual violence and coercion because he reportedly tried to trivialize the kiss that led indignation in Spain and around the world and the celebrations of the first World Cup title of the team.
Earlier this month, Rubiales told the court that he was 'completely sure' Hermoso agreed that he kissed her after Spain had won the World Cup.
“She squeezed me very firmly under my armpits, she lifted me up, and when I came down, I asked her if I could give you a kiss, and she said” ok, “that's what happened,” he said.
“What happened was not important for me nor for her,” Rubiales added during his long -awaited testimony and described the kiss as “an act of affection.”
He said the kiss was to mark a unique moment, because “you don't win a world cup every day,” and added: “Even when I see my daughters, I don't kiss them, but on New Year's Eve we kiss each other . '
Public Prosecutor Marta Durantez asked him if he would have acted the same “if it had been a man,” to which he answered: “It depends on whether it would have been a player with whom I have a great relationship.”
He said in the national team “there were three or four players with whom I have a great relationship and one of them was Jenni Hermoso.”
Referring to parties with male football players, he said that the world cup win was not comparable to the UEFA Nations League, but added: “I used to kissed many football players.”
Hermoso told the court that she 'never' agreed to the kiss, that she had 'not respected' by what Rubiales had done and that it was 'one of the happiest days of my life'.
While Rubiales stated that the kiss was neither illegal nor immoral during the process, the football boss admitted that it had been a mistake.
“It was a mistake, I was the president of the federation and from the start I acknowledged it was a mistake,” he said. “I behaved like an athlete who was a member of the group and I should have taken a more institutional role.”
Rubiales took pressure three weeks after the scandal appeared and was banned by FIFA for three years. He said he was the victim of a 'witch hunt' by 'false feminists'.
The kiss led to indignation in Spain about the prevalence of sexism in sport and beyond.
His three co -suspects, former coach Jorge Vilda for Women, the former sports director of the National Team of the Federation, Albert Luque, and the former head of marketing, were also not found guilty of the accusation of coercion against Hermoso.
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