COURT UPHOLDS RUBIALES SEXUAL ASSAULT CONVICTION

Spain’s High Court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of former soccer federation president Luis Rubiales, closing the case that captured international attention after the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

The court con­firmed Rubiales kissed Span­ish nation­al team play­er Jen­ni Her­moso on the lips with­out her con­sent dur­ing the medal cer­e­mo­ny in Syd­ney. Mul­ti­ple appeals were reject­ed, and the orig­i­nal ver­dict stands. Rubiales has been fined over €10,000 ($11,592) but was acquit­ted of coer­cion charges. Pros­e­cu­tors had sought a prison sen­tence and a retri­al but both requests were dis­missed.

The inci­dent, wide­ly con­demned, became a cat­a­lyst for nation­al con­ver­sa­tions about sex­ism in Span­ish soci­ety and women’s soc­cer. It also gave new momen­tum to the “Me Too” move­ment in Spain.

Rubiales defend­ed his actions as an uncon­trolled expres­sion of joy. How­ev­er, the court ruled his selec­tive behav­ior, i.e., embrac­ing oth­ers with­out sim­i­lar ges­tures, proved he could have restrained him­self with Her­moso.

In its state­ment, the court not­ed:
“Since that emo­tion did not lead him to express his joy so effu­sive­ly by kiss­ing the oth­er play­ers or the accom­pa­ny­ing per­sons in the box, and he restrained him­self, he could also have done so, with­out too much effort, with the cap­tain of the team.”