Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation, was found guilty of sexual assault on Thursday, reported The Guardian. Rubiales non-consensually kissed player Jenni Hermoso after she led Spain to win the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The incident was captured on video, and Hermoso said it “tarnished” the moment. In its ruling, Spain’s High Court barred Rubiales from contacting Hermoso for a year and ordered him to pay around $10,455 in fines. He was also ordered to keep from within 200 meters of Hermoso, reported Reuters. The court acquitted Rubiales of coercion charges amid reports that he had been pressuring Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual. “This action of kissing a woman on the lips has a clear sexual connotation and is not the way people greet those with whom they are not in an emotional relationship,” a judge wrote in the ruling. Rubiales has maintained throughout trial proceeds that his kiss was consensual and happened in a “moment of jubilation.” In a statement to Reuters, he said he plans to appeal the ruling, adding, “I am going to keep fighting.”
Read it at The Guardian
