Football: Former Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales due in court in sex assault investigation
Former Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales will appear before a High Court judge on Friday over a complaint of sexual assault stemming from his allegedly unsolicited kiss on the lips of player Jenni Hermoso — an incident that has triggered a furore over sexism in Spanish sport and society.
The events of Aug. 20 eclipsed the national women team's World Cup victory in Sydney and led to protests similar to the Me Too movement, prompting other women to come forward with reports of sexist treatment and assaults.
It also sent a shudder through the male-dominated ranks of Spain's football establishment. Rubiales, 46, has maintained that the kiss was mutual and consensual. After weeks of resisting calls for him to step down as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Rubiales, already suspended by FIFA, finally quit on Sept. 10.
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But he remains unrepentant. «I am a good person, that in a moment of maximum happiness, with consent, asking beforehand...In truth, there can be no other intention than the celebration and the joy itself,» he told British television interviewer Piers Morgan on Sunday.
He likened the celebratory atmosphere in Sydney to winning a lottery or seeing a war ending, situations in which he said «people don't ask permissions». Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz has called his actions «shameful» and said they showed that male chauvinsim was stil systemic in Spanish society.
On Sept. 8, prosecutor Marta Durantez Gil filed a complaint with the High Court against Rubiales after Hermoso told prosecutors that Rubiales kissed her on the mouth without her consent while holding her head with both hands at the medals ceremony.
The prosecutor added a possible crime of coercion after Hermoso said
