Former RFEF president Luis Rubiales denied all charges of which he is accused for kissing Jenni Hermoso.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also requested Rubiales to appear every 15 days and a 500-meter restraining order against the player.
The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales denied Friday the charges of sexual assault and coercion of which he is being accused by the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office after giving a kiss on the mouth to the national team player Jenni Hermoso at the awards ceremony of the Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.
In his appearance before the Spanish National Court, Rubiales flatly denied all the charges against him: having forced Jenni to kiss him and having tried, through coercion, to get her to collaborate in the video in which Rubiales offered his apologies.
The Prosecutor’s Office also requested Rubiales to appear every 15 days and a 500-meter restraining order against the player. The former RFEF president was also prohibited from communicating with Jenni Hermoso by any means.
Rubiales, 46, has maintained that the kiss was consensual and resigned from his post finally on September 10, after several weeks convinced he would not resign.
“I am a good person, that in a moment of maximum happiness, with consent, asking before – you can read my lips – for the immense joy, (…) Winning a World Cup is something wonderful and the truth can not be any intention beyond the celebration itself and the joy,” he told British interviewer Piers Morgan on Sunday.
Rubiales entered the court accompanied by his lawyer, Olga Tubau, and made no comment to the media.