The National Court rejects the appeals of those investigated and confirms the trial of Rubiales for the kiss of Jenni Hermoso

The Criminal Chamber of the National Court (AN) has rejected the appeals of those investigated and has confirmed the opening of an oral trial against the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales, the former women’s coach Jorge Vilda, the sports director of the national team Albert Luque and the person responsible for Marketing Rubén Rivera for the non-consensual kiss of the soccer player Jennifer Hermoso and the subsequent coercion.

In four different orders, one for each appeal presented, the magistrates of the Third Section indicate that in the procedural phase in which the case is located, the accreditation of facts is not pursued, but rather it is a procedural impulse in which the The investigating body must assess whether there are indications to continue processing the procedure.

In this case, the magistrates consider that the facts described in the order that proposed putting them on the bench include 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 mild character. The court, specifically, indicates that the legal consequences “of the kiss cannot be assessed at this time.” The Chamber also explains that the appellants intend in this procedural step to compare the statements as if it were an oral trial. The witnesses, according to the magistrates, 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.”

Non-consensual kiss

It should be remembered that it was last January when the judge of the National Court Francisco de Jorge proposed judging Rubiales, considering that the kiss on the player “was not consensual” and that the former leader acted in a “unilateral and surprising” manner. The magistrate, specifically, stated in his resolution that “the pressures to which the player was subjected created” in the women’s national team soccer player “a situation of anxiety and intense stress.”

In addition to Rubiales, the magistrate also proposes sending Luque, Vilda and Rivera to the bench for the subsequent pressure to which the player was subjected to agree to hold a public demonstration stating that the kiss had been consensual. The judge stated that there was “concerted action by the three” defendants agreed upon with Rubiales “to break Hermoso’s will and get him to agree to record a video in which he said that the kiss had been consensual.”

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