A Spanish High Court judge proposed on Thursday that former football federation chief Luis Rubiales stand trial over the kiss he planted on player Jenni Hermoso\u2019s lips after Spain\u2019s victory in the Women\u2019s World Cup.
\nThe court said in a statement that the judge, Francisco de Jorge, also sought a trial for former women\u2019s team coach Jorge Vilda, as well as Albert Luque, the men\u2019s team\u2019s sport director, and Ruben Rivera, the federation\u2019s marketing chief, for pressuring Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual.
\nThe court quoted the judge as saying that, contrary to Rubiales\u2019 statements, the investigation showed the kiss \u201cwas not consensual and was a unilateral and surprising initiative\u201d.
\nProsecutors and lawyers can still present their arguments, after which the court will decide whether and when to call the trial. Up until now, the case has been handled by an investigative judge.
\nThe 33-year-old forward \u2013 Spain\u2019s all-time top scorer \u2013 lodged a criminal complaint of sexual assault and coercion in September over the kiss on the winners\u2019 podium on Aug. 20, saying she felt \u201cvulnerable and a victim of an aggression\u201d.
\nThe case shocked the sporting world and society in Spain and abroad, prompting protests and further accusations by women that prominent or powerful men had forced intimacy on them.
\nIn Spain, the social media hashtag #SeAcabo (\u201cIt\u2019s over\u201d) became a rallying cry.
\nBeside the kiss itself, the judge found evidence Rubiales and the co-defendants may have committed a related offence in their coordinated action to make Hermoso \u201crecord a video in which she would say the kiss was consensual.\u201d
\nHermoso refused and eventually filed the criminal complaint.
\n(Reuters, Photo from marca.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Spanish High Court judge has proposed that former football federation chief Luis Rubiales stand trial for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent after Spain’s victory in the Women’s World Cup. The judge also sought a trial for former women’s team coach Jorge Vilda, as well as the men’s team’s sport director and the federation’s marketing chief, for pressuring Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual. The judge stated that the investigation showed the kiss was not consensual and was a unilateral and surprising initiative. The case has sparked protests and further accusations of forced intimacy by prominent or powerful men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,336,577,585,586,337,421,587,18],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-football","tag-protests","tag-sexual-assault","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-womens-football","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n