The former president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, has been summoned to testify this Friday as part of the judicial investigation for his forced kiss with the player Jennifer Hermoso after the victory of the Red women in the World Cup, the National Court announced on Tuesday. .
Rubiales was summoned “to testify as under investigation next Friday, September 15,” the statement showed, after the admission of the Prosecutor’s complaint against the former leader “for the crimes of sexual assault and coercion” for processing.
The call comes a day after the judge of the National Court, Spain’s main criminal court, Francisco de Jorge, accepted the complaint filed by the Public Ministry against the now former president of the RFEF.
The Spanish prosecutor’s office, which on August 28 opened a preliminary investigation into the case, also requested to take a statement from Rubiales, as an investigator, and Jenni Hermoso as a victim, after receiving the complaint of the player last week.
The announcement of Rubiales’ call comes two days after he announced his resignation as RFEF president, after initially refusing to do so, saying the kiss was “consensual”. Hermoso, for his part, vehemently denied it.
Rubiales, who was suspended by FIFA at the end of August, said he would step down, among other reasons, to focus on his defense.
“I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power to make it prevail,” he said in his resignation letter.
Since a recent reform of the Spanish Penal Code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a criminal category that combines all types of sexual violence.
Penalties for forced kissing can range from a fine to four years in prison, according to sources from the Prosecutor’s Office.
The public ministry is also considering an alleged crime of coercion, since Hermoso stated in his statement “that he and his closest environment suffered constant and repeated pressure from Luis Rubiales and in his professional environment, to justify and approve the facts”.
