The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales has maintained this Tuesday at the trial in which he faces a penalty two and a half years in jail accused of crimes of sexual assault and coercion that is “totally safe” of That Jenni Hermoso gave her consent before kissing her at the ceremony of the World Cup medals, in August 2023. “She squeezed me very strong from the armpits, she lifted me. And, when I fell, I asked: ‘Can I give you a kiss?’ And he said: ‘Vale’. That was what happened, ”he told questions from the prosecutor, Marta Durántez.
The prosecutor has reminded him of that this is not what is seen in the recorded images. “That is what you believe, but it is not what happened,” said the accused. For an hour – and responding to all parties – Rubiales has tried to minimize the consequences of his behavior, which he has defined at different times of his statement as something “spontaneous” and as a “sign of affection” without “any importance” Neither for him, nor for the player. To questions from his lawyer, Olga Tubau, has also denied that there were any sexual intention behind that act. “Never!” He emphasized.
Rubiales’ statement is contrasted to that of the player, who was overwhelming when he affirmed that the kiss was unexpected and that, at no time, he asked permission. “I didn’t look for that act, much less I waited for it,” said the footballer, who also reported the different episodes he lived with Rubiales and people in his surroundings who claimed him publicly to subtract importance from that act. The former president of the Federation has also denied that he press the player or give orders for it.
In an interrogation that has had some tense moments, the representative of the Public Ministry has also tried to underline a contradiction between what was affirmed by Rubiales in an instructional phase – when he spoke of “Piquito” – and said this Tuesday at the trial. “Did a ‘kiss’ or a ‘piquito’ told him?” Durantez asked. “Then [cuando compareció ante el instructor del caso] I didn’t remember it, but it was kiss. ‘ They are synonymous words. The incidence is the same, ”Rubiales replied. In addition, he reiterated that he did not perceive any “rejection” by the footballer after the kiss. He has admitted that his behavior “was not adequate” and that she had to have a “more institutional role” although the player had shown her consent.
Rubiales has also tried to refute the thesis of the accusations, which suggest that since moments after the kiss, Rubiales tried to publicly come out to justify him. The defendant has acknowledged that they had a first conversation in one of the halls contiguous to the locker room minutes after the final and while the selection celebrated the victory, but that was to address the trip to Ibiz days later. Beautiful, however, he said that at that time Rubiales already told him that he was riding “a lot of stir” and that they could “stop it.”
According to the player’s statement, the maneuvers would have continued on the trip back to Spain, something Rubiales has also denied. Thus, he has maintained that he did not write the ex -statement that included alleged phrases of the player. And that on the plane he spoke with her on a single occasion to ask her to make a video together. “He told me that he didn’t want to celebrate the World Cup. And, seeing that I didn’t want, I did it alone, ”he explained. In that video he tried in an veiled way to correspond to the kiss player by saying that there had been “bad faith for either part.”
In addition, he has assured that “in no case” gave orders to the then coach, Jorge Vilda, that he went to talk to the player’s brother to try to convince her and that he went publicly to subtract importance to the kiss. Both Rafael Hermoso, the footballer’s brother, as a family friend pointed to Vilda as the author of some pressures that attributed to Rubiales’ mandate. The relative assured that the coach told him that if the player collaborated with the then president, he would have open the doors of the RFEF, but that if he did not take into account “the professional and personal consequences”.
The last scenario of the alleged coercion is Ibiza, where a dozen players – brother among them – enjoyed a few days of vacations financed by the Consell de Ibiza and businessmen of the island. The accusations argue that the other two defendants were transferred therein, following Rubiales’ orders: Rubén Rivera, former marketing who was the representative of the Federation on that trip and who attended the needs of the players; and the former sports director of the male team Albert Luque. The former president has denied that he ordered them to go to Ibiza to mediate with the player.
An expert without qualification
The former federative president has supported his defense in an expert report contributed by his lawyer who would come to corroborate that Rubiales did ask the player permission before kissing him. Before the judge, the expert in lip reading David Morillo has assured that without any doubt Rubiales addressed the player before kissing him and asked “Can I give you a kiss?”.
However, Morillo has maintained that he could not examine the hypothetical answer that the player would have given him because he “is not seen” in the recording. “Was he worried about looking for other videos in which he saw him?” He has then asked the prosecutor. “No,” said the expert, who has recognized that he only analyzed that video, published in the social network Tiktok, in which you could not appreciate if the footballer came to speak. The Law of Sexual Freedom establishes that consent must be express.
In addition, the prosecutor has tried to question the professionalism of the expert, who has recognized that he has only intervened “twice” in judicial expertise and that her only qualification is that she is a deaf -mute person of birth that belongs to an association. Next, another expert expert in Forensic Image Analysis has appeared that has certified that this video of Tik Tok, made through a assembly of several passages, had not been manipulated.
The statements of both experts have given way to the documentary test phase, in which videos of the kiss and subsequent celebration have been exposed. An audio that beautiful sent to its agents from Ibiza has also been heard, where part of the players went to celebrate the victory, and in which it told their agents the pressures he was suffering. “You can notify the Federation to leave my family and my people. Or stop or in the end you will see, ”said the player in that voice message.
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