Strong evidence of sexual assault and coercion in the conduct of Luis Rubiales and the commission of the second of the crimes by the rest of the defendants for the non-consensual kiss of the national team player Jenni Hermoso in the final in Australia. This is the conclusion to which The Prosecutor’s Office has arrived after listening to the numerous witnesses who have already paraded through the National Court to give their version of what happened before the judge Francisco de Jorge.
Sources from the Public Ministry point to El Periódico de España, from the Prensa Ibérica group. that, in the absence of listening to the player herself, do not believe it is necessary to carry out further proceedings to conclude the investigation of this matter, regardless of whether the private prosecution and the defense can do so. The decision whether or not to prolong the judicial investigation depends, in any case, on the head of the Central Investigative Court number 1, which for the moment maintains the order by which Rubiales is prohibited from approaching less than 200 meters from his victim.
Regardless of the accusation that will be maintained with respect to Rubiales, the Prosecutor’s Office understands that at the moment there is also material to maintain that there was a crime of coercion – which is punishable by sentences of six months to two years in prison – attributable to former women’s coach Jorge Vilda and the directors of the men’s team, Albert Luque, and marketing of the RFEF, Rubén Rivera, both still federal employees. It is not foreseen at the moment that the public prosecution will request that the number of those investigated be increased.
Statement from Jenni Hermoso
In any case, a crucial piece of evidence is still pending; the statement at the National Court must still be given by Hermoso herself, which will serve to corroborate or not what she already said before the court. prosecutor of the case, Marta Durántezand that served for her to take the step of filing a complaint.
The content of these demonstrations was not revealed at the time, but a few weeks later part of the interrogation was leaked through the program ‘Telecinco code 10′. At the hearing, Hermoso stated that the kiss was not consensual and that she did not feel respected as a person and a footballer at the time of the events. “They were subjecting me to something that I never sought or did to find myself in that situation,” she revealed.
This is a totally different version from that of Rubiales, who defended before Judge De Jorge that the kiss was a “display of affection” that occurred in a “natural” way, in the light of “millions of eyes.” When asked by Hermoso’s lawyer, he insisted that what happened was part of a “totally extraordinary celebration” and that he asked the player before of giving him the kiss and that it happened “with consent.”
From the beginning, neither the investigator of the case nor the representative of the Public Ministry have had any intention of forcing Hermoso, who plays in the Mexican club Pachuca, to interrupt their season to take a flight to Spain. But this situation could have changed after the elimination of his team in the playoffs of the Apertura tournament and the call for the Spanish women’s football team scheduled for the first week of December. Pachuca will not resume its competition until after Christmas, so it is foreseeable that the declaration will occur in the coming weeks.
In-person appearance
According to legal sources, the magistrate’s interest is that his appearance is in person and not through videoconference, since in the latter case an immediacy that is believed to be key in a matter related to sexual assault is lost. This does not mean that her summons is being reserved for the end of the proceedings, or at least that is not the interest of the Prosecutor’s Office, which wants to hear it when it best suits the player based on her agenda and her presence or not in Spain.
The latest statements, such as the one made this Thursday by the president of the National Women’s Football Committee, Rafael del Amoand a friend of Hermoso, have come to clear contradiction with the versions of Rubiales and Vilda in relation to the pressure exerted through Rafael Hermoso, the player’s brother, during the return flight from Sydney.
If the two defendants denied that any intermediation was sought, Del Amo has acknowledged before the judge that He witnessed how Rubiales indicated to him to the former coach to talk to Rafael to try to get the forward to downplay what happened. On his day, he already pointed to Vilda as the direct author of the pressure and other players and a personal friend of Hermoso who were also present during the trip have stated in the same sense.
For her part, Vilda stated before the judge that “it does not fit into anyone’s head” that the coach, publicly, on a plane, could pressure or coerce or say something in a hostile or threatening manner to a person he has known for a long time. “He is the brother of a player who has that special appreciation“, incardinating his conversation with Rafael in something very different from coercion.
Witnesses suspected of lying
In the case of other witnesses, the Prosecutor’s Office has even detected that the truth has been “deliberately ignored”, as it expressly stated last Wednesday in relation to José María Timón Iglesiaswho served as cabinet director of former President Rubiales.
In addition to on the plane, the pressures would have occurred in the field itself, after the events occurred, and even during a post trip to Ibiza of the players, which is why the Prosecutor’s Office defended in its document filing the complaint the existence of “harassment” against the player. Another part of the research focuses on the Press release that the Federation made public a few hours after the kiss went viral, in which false statements were attributed to Hermoso denying that there had been an non-consensual kiss.
The investigations even have a expert report about an expert in lip reading provided by Rubiales’ defense, carried out by the lawyer Olga Tubau, aimed at demonstrating that said permission was indeed requested.