Disgraced Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales facing 2.5 YEARS in prison and £85,000 payout over World Cup kiss scandal
THE axed Spanish FA chief who planted an unwanted kiss on a Women’s World Cup winner’s lips should be jailed for two-and-a-half years, prosecutors say.
Disgraced Luis Rubiales should also pay £85,000 compensation to victim Jenni Hermoso if convicted of sexual assault and covering up the infamous “Kissgate” scandal.
The demands were laid out in a six-page indictment made public yesterday amid continuing fall-out 46-year-old Rubiales’s behaviour at the World Cup Final in Australia last year.
Prosecutors say his unseemly conduct – beamed worldwide on TV – warrants a one-year jail term for a sexual assault.
But they are also demanding a separate one-year and six month prison sentence for “coercion” linked to his alleged attempts to get Jenni, 33, to speak out in his defence.
Madrid-based judge Francisco de Jorge paved the way for Rubiales to face criminal action earlier this year after recommending he be put in the dock.
He said his long-running probe had uncovered “solid evidence” pointing to the potential illegality of the kiss.
Mr de Jorge has already quizzed the former football boss and his alleged victim separately in closed sessions at Spain’s national court.
He said: “The investigation has revealed the existence of solid evidence the kiss was not consensual and was a unilateral and surprise initiative on his part.
“Whether there was not any erotic intention or it was a result of the state of euphoria … is something that should be valued in a public trial.”
He said he had concluded Hermoso had been left “bewildered and surprised” by the “unexpected” kiss and “didn’t have time to react”.
Rubiales grabbed her by the head with both hands and locked lips with her at the awards ceremony in front of millions of TV viewers watching live last August.
He also proposed former Spain’s women’s team manager Jorge Vilda, men’s team director Albert Luque and former FA marketing director Ruben Rivera should face trial.
Mr de Jorge said in his written ruling he believed there was enough evidence to proceed with a formal accusation against all three for their “concerted action” to nobble Jenni.
He said Rubiales and the rio tried to “break Jennifer Hermoso’s will and get her to agree to record a video saying the kiss had been consensual”.
The judge concluded in his bombshell ruling: “The pressure the player was submitted to created in Jennifer Hermoso a situation of anxiety and intense stress.”
Public prosecutors said yesterday they were seeking prison sentences of one year and six months for Vilda, Luque and Rivera if convicted of coercion.
Hermoso, 33, who now plays for Mexican side Tigres, sparked the Audiencia Nacional investigation by filing a complaint against Rubiales last September.
She his unsolicited smacker as a sexist act which left her feeling vulnerable – after Rubiales insisted it was consensual and “a peck”.
Mr de Jorge banned him from going within 200 metres of Hermoso or making any contact with her.
Defiant Rubiales pledged “I will defend my honourability. I will defend my innocence.
“I have faith in the future. I have faith in the truth. Thanks to everybody.”
Rubiales is at the centre of a separate corruption probe over to a multi-million euro deal to relocate the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
He is currently in the Dominican Republic but has promised to return to Spain to defend himself.
An apartment belonging to the former Spanish FA chief was searched earlier this month.
And today, six suspects have been arrested after state prosecutors raided 11 premises around Spain as part of the Saudi Arabia cup probe, Sky News reported.
The offices of the Spanish Football Federation on the outskirts of Madrid were searched, along with Rubiales’ residence in the southern city of Granada.
However, Spain’s Guardia Civil stated that the former president was not one of the six arrested and was out of the country when authorities raided his property.
Rubiales is one of five persons formally under investigation, according to authorities.
The office of Spain’s state prosecutors stated that police and Europol detectives were looking for papers and that the operation is expected to result in seven arrests and the identification of five additional persons as under investigation.