Spain’s ex-football chief Luis Rubiales indicted for kiss, coercion

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – Spain’s High Court indicted the country’s former football chief Luis Rubiales on Tuesday for kissing a female player and pressuring her to say it was mutual.

Rubiales will face criminal charges of sexual aggression and coercion, and he has been cited to appear before the court on Friday.

Rubiales, who FIFA had already suspended from his post as the head of Spain’s football federation, announced his resignation on Sunday.

His move to step down came three weeks after he kissed player Jennifer Hermoso while celebrating the World Cup win of the Spanish women’s team for the first time.

After the kiss, Hermoso said she “felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act” that she did not consent to. She also said that Rubiales pressured her and those around her to say that she wanted the kiss.

Last week, Hermoso moved to press charges. Under Spain’s recently reformed criminal code, a broad array of unwanted acts of a sexual nature can be criminally prosecuted.

If found guilty, Rubiales could receive a fine or years behind bars.

Rubiales admits to no wrongdoing. He insists that Hermoso agreed to have her boss’ kiss on the lips as the world watched.

Instead, Rubiales says he is the victim of a witch-hunt.

After he gave an incendiary speech, accusing feminists of going after him, asserting the kiss was mutual, and refusing to step down, more than 80 of Spain’s top female players announced they would refuse to play under Spanish football’s leadership. In response, his organization threatened legal action against the players.

The day after the speech, FIFA suspended Rubiales. The coach of Spain’s women’s team was subsequently sacked.

Rubiales has not been seen in public since the speech, but his first interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan will be aired in full later Tuesday.