The first legal measures have already been taken against Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Judge Luis Francisco de Jorge imposed a 200-meter restraining order against the former president of the player Jenni Hermoso and also prevented him from communicating with her in any way during the investigation into the case. The judge made this decision after the prosecution raised it after hearing on Friday the version of the former director who testified before the National Court about the non-consensual kiss he gave the athlete during the victory celebration in the final of the Women’s World Cup in Sydney (Australia). Rubiales, who has denied the two crimes he is accused of, answered questions for nearly 45 minutes from De Jorge, the prosecution, his lawyer and the private prosecutor.
The former RFEF director arrived at the court at around 11:15 a.m., 45 minutes before the time set by the judge for his testimony. Accompanied by his lawyer Olga Tubau, Rubiales entered the building but held back in view of the journalists’ great expectations. He did it quietly. He declined to answer questions from the crowd of reporters stationed at the courthouse doors. Not even at the exit.
Hermoso’s lawyer Carla Vall, a specialist in sexist violence, made a few brief statements. “We are in the very early stages of teaching. We as the public prosecutor’s office have also called for precautionary measures,” he said. “Jenni is logically affected by the events, by the humiliating act that she experienced in the stadium and which tarnished a sporting milestone. That’s why we ask that treatment be appropriate to sustain this process emotionally.”
The former president of the association has ended up as a defendant before the National Court of Justice, and on his back is a complaint from the public prosecutor’s office that attributes him to one crime of sexual assault and another of coercion. To defend himself, Rubiales has selected one of the country’s most renowned criminal defense attorneys. His lawyer defended, among others, Josep Lluís Trapero, mayor of the Mossos d’Esquadra, in the trial against him over the role of the Catalan regional police during the secession challenge in October 2017. Trapero was acquitted in a verdict ruled in favor of Tubau.
Luis Rubiales answered questions from all parties for almost 45 minutes. The statement was made in the interrogation room on the sixth floor of the courthouse on Génova Street in Madrid. According to legal sources, the former president of the RFEF denied that the kiss was coercion and lack of consent. At the end of the session, the prosecutor proposed a series of precautionary measures: an injunction (in his case he asked for 500 meters), a ban on communication with the athlete and bi-weekly court appearances. The judge rejected this last request and also ruled out the seizure of the defendant’s assets as requested by the player’s lawyer.
Tax sources said the biweekly appearances were requested to “ensure the presence” of Rubiales during the investigation. The restraining order and the communication order to “protect the victim.”
Media from around the world became interested in the scandal, which overwhelmed Rubiales, who was now forced to make the famous short walk to enter the national court. He still defends his performance to this day and, among all his excuses, even stated this week that he would have kissed a player on the men’s team if he had won the World Cup. “When I was a player, there were many moments – when we avoided relegation, when we achieved promotion or won a title – when there were all kinds of kisses, including what we call ‘top of the mouth'” he said in an interview with a British chain.
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Despite attempts to justify himself, the judicial treatment of the Rubiales case has finally put the finishing touches to the former president of the Federation after three weeks of clinging to his office. The manager resigned as president of the RFEF on Sunday, two days after the regional court prosecutor’s office decided to open criminal proceedings and filed a complaint against him. In its complaint, the ministry brought two criminal offenses to the table: one for sexual assault (due to the non-consensual kiss) and another for coercion (due to the pressure on the player and those around her to publicly confirm Rubiales’ version). The Criminal Code provides for both provisions with prison sentences, but also provides for the possibility of merely imposing a fine.
“Jenni picked me up.”
Since the World Cup final, Luis Rubiales’ attitude has not calmed the scandal, but rather fueled it. The former president of the Federation insulted those who criticized him (including members of the government) and threatened legal action; has portrayed himself as a victim of “false feminism”; and has filed charges against Jennifer Hermoso, whom he accuses of lying. Even in the days following the kiss, he sought refuge under the umbrella of the RFEF and called an unusual extraordinary meeting, which ended with some of those present standing up and applauding him (including the electors Luis de la Fuente and Jorge Vilda, the latter) . already fired). “I will not resign,” Rubiales shouted at that meeting and then stood his ground.
However, his downfall only lasted a few days. On August 26, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee provisionally suspended him. And now that Rubiales was officially driven from the top of power, the downward slide began that ended with his resignation. “What remains for me is to defend my dignity and I will defend myself with my arguments,” he argued in the interview broadcast on a British channel, maintaining his main lines of defense: “Jenni picked me up and we had that fleetingly. “Kiss that lasts two tenths of a second.”, but what came of it is crazy […]. What was there was a spontaneous, mutual act that both agreed to and was borne of the emotion of the moment, happiness. I maintain that this is the truth about what happened.”
This theory contradicts what the player said in a statement: “I felt vulnerable and the victim of an attack, an impulsive, sexist act and without any consent on my part.” […]. “I was not respected.” According to the Public Ministry, Hermoso added during her statement at the headquarters of the Attorney General’s Office that both she and her closest relatives “were subjected to constant and repeated pressure from Luis Rubiales and his professional environment, so that he this justified.” agreed with the facts.”
Luis Rubiales, former president of the RFEF, left the National Court this Friday together with his lawyer Olga Tubau and Samuel Sánchez
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