On Monday, Spanish ahead Jenni Hermoso testified in opposition to Luis Rubiales in Madrid, talking about . Rubiales, the previous president of the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), and for making an attempt to stress Hermoso into saying that the kiss was consensual.
“I felt disrespected,” Hermoso Monday. “I feel it was a second that stained one of many happiest days of my life.”
Spain took house its first Girls’s World Cup in 2023, however celebrations have been marred when Rubiales forcibly kissed Hermoso on stage in the course of the trophy ceremony. The habits sparked outrage in Spain, raised questions of sexism all through the nation, and .
Rubiales, dealing with intense stress within the wake of the kiss, three weeks after the incident. He has repeatedly denied the costs, saying at one level that
Hermoso, 34, has constantly mentioned that the kiss was not consensual. She spoke extra concerning the incident Monday, saying that she “could not react” as Rubiales kissed her.
“I didn’t hear or perceive something,” Hermoso mentioned. “The following factor he did was to seize me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth.”
Hermoso testified Monday that Rubiales spoke to her on the aircraft from Sydney, Australia, the place the ultimate had taken place, again to Spain. There, he requested her to assist him easy issues over publicly, saying that folks have been calling him “an aggressor,” however she refused.
Hermoso mentioned that it was “essential” for her to proceed celebrating the World Cup win along with her teammates even after the incident. However since returning to Spain, she mentioned that her life has been on standby as a result of media circus across the incident. Hermoso performs for Tigres in Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, the place she will be able to keep away from a lot of the eye, however that goes away when she returns to Madrid.
“I’ve not been capable of actually dwell freely,” she mentioned in court docket Monday.
Beneath Spanish regulation, Rubiales, if discovered responsible, may face a tremendous or a one- to four-year jail sentence. Prosecutors representing Hermoso need Rubiales to obtain a jail sentence of two-and-a-half years, plus 50,000 euros ($51,400) in damages and for him to be banned from working as a sports activities official. FIFA already , however that’s set to lapse in 2026. Hermoso, who already has a restraining order in opposition to Rubiales, has additionally requested for the court docket to power him to avoid her.
Along with Rubiales, three different males from the federation are additionally on trial: former ladies’s nationwide crew head coach Jorge Vilda, former males’s nationwide crew sports activities director Albert Luque and RFEF’s former head of promoting Rubén Rivera. The three are accused of making an attempt to coerce Hermoso into publicly supporting Rubiales after the incident started to spark outrage.
The trial is about to final not less than 10 days, with a few of Hermoso’s teammates and different Spanish federation officers set to testify as witnesses.