The National Court has given the go-ahead for the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales and the former women’s coach Jorge Vilda to be tried for the kiss of the player Jennifer Hermoso in the World Cup final and the subsequent coercion.
The third section of the Criminal Court has adopted this decision by rejecting the appeals against the order of the judge in the case filed by Rubiales and Vilda and by the other two investigated: the former sports director of the national team Albert Luque and the person who was responsible for Marketing Rubén Rivera .
In this case, the Chamber considers that the facts described in the appealed order contain evidence that fits the typical description of a crime against sexual freedom and another of coercion, whether from 172.1 of the Penal Code or of a minor nature.
The court indicates that the legal consequences “of the kiss and the constraint cannot be assessed at this time” and warns the accused that they cannot intend in this procedural step to confront the statements as if it were an oral trial.
The witnesses, the order adds, relate facts that can be classified as part of the two crimes, so the evidentiary challenge will correspond to the plenary phase and not to the investigation, “which is limited to determining whether there are indications and whether they are subsumable in a criminal type. Both requirements are met in the appealed order.”
In its indictment, the Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of two and a half years in prison for Rubiales for the crimes of sexual assault and coercion, and one and a half years in prison for coercion for the other three defendants.
In addition to the prison sentence, the prosecutor asks for Rubiales to be disqualified from working in the sports field during the sentence, two years of supervised release and the prohibition of communicating with the player and approaching her within 200 meters for four years. years.
He also wants Hermoso to be compensated with 50,000 euros, the same amount that he claims from the other three defendants, although in his case, jointly and severally.
