World Cup champion Jenni Hermoso of Spain was in court docket on Monday to testify on the trial of Luis Rubiales, the ex-Spain soccer president who controversially kissed her throughout the 2023 Cup celebration.
Throughout her testimony, Hermoso denied Rubiales’ declare that the kiss, which triggered worldwide outrage, was consensual.
“I felt disrespected,” Hermoso stated in Madrid’s Excessive Courtroom. “I feel it was a second that stained one of many happiest days of my life.”
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Luis Rubiales kisses Jennifer Hermoso throughout the medal ceremony for the FIFA Ladies’s World Cup last match at Stadium Australia on Aug. 20, 2023, in Sydney. (Noemi Llamas/Eurasia Sport Photos/Getty Photos)
Hermoso added that she “didn’t hear or perceive something” from Rubiales when requested if he had requested to kiss her.
“The following factor he did was to seize me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth,” she stated.
Rubiales, 47, is being accused of sexual assault and making an attempt to coerce Hermoso, in addition to others, to assist him publicly.
EX-SPAIN SOCCER BOSS LUIS RUBIALES TO FACE TRIAL OVER WOMEN’S WORLD CUP KISS
He has denied the costs towards him, claiming the kiss was consensual and occurred in a “second of jubilation.”
He argues that Hermoso “lifted me up” as a celebratory gesture and he requested her for “a bit kiss.” Rubiales claims she stated sure.
Prosecutors, Hermoso and the nation’s gamers’ affiliation are asking the choose to difficulty a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence, in addition to a 50,000 euros fee for damages and a ban from ever working as a sports activities official once more.
Jennifer Hermoso and head coach Jorge Vilda listens to reporters questions throughout a press convention forward of the Ladies’s World Cup semifinal match between Spain and Sweden in Auckland, New Zealand. (AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
Rubiales might face a tremendous or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible of his expenses, per court docket officers.
Former Spain girls’s nationwide staff coach Jorge Vilda, former sports activities director of Spain’s males’s nationwide staff Albert Luque, and the soccer federation’s former head of selling, Rubén Rivera, are additionally on trial for allegedly pressuring Hermoso to defend Rubiales publicly after the incident.
Rubiales was pressured out of his publish as Spain’s soccer president in 2023, resigning whereas being banned by FIFA for 3 years regardless of an preliminary press convention the place he reiterated that he wouldn’t be stepping down. Rubiales stated in that speech that he was a sufferer of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”
Because the incident, Hermoso says she has had bother escaping the highlight, particularly in Mexico the place she performs for her membership staff in between her duties for her nation.
Jennifer Hermoso reacts after lacking a scoring likelihood throughout a Ladies’s World Cup match between Japan and Spain in Wellington, New Zealand, July 31, 2023. (AP Photograph/John Cowpland, File)
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“I’ve not been capable of actually reside freely,” she stated in her testimony.
In her seven World Cup matches, Hermoso tallied three targets and two assists to help her staff’s efforts in successful the trophy.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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