Rubiales’ defense asks for acquittal for non-criminal act
Lawyers for former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation admit inappropriate behavior towards Jenni Hermoso, but not punishable by criminal charges
The defense of the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, asked this Thursday for the acquittal of his client for kissing the player Jenni Hermoso, admitting that he may have behaved inappropriately, but never criminally.
“We cannot confuse sin and crime, that is, what is socially and morally reprehensible with what is criminally reprehensible,” said Rubiales’ lawyer in the closing arguments of the trial of the former president of the RFEF for sexual assault on Jenni Hermoso, in August 2023, at the Sydney Stadium, during the celebrations of Spain’s victory in the Women’s World Cup that year.
The lawyer defending Luis Rubiales, Olga Tabau Martínez, presented her final arguments today in the court where the trial took place, in San Fernando de Henares, on the outskirts of Madrid.
Olga Tabau Martínez considered that it was proven at the trial that Jenni Hermoso gave Luis Rubiales consent to kiss her, invoking videos made in the Spanish national team’s locker room after the 2023 World Cup final and the testimony of a person summoned by the defense of the former president of the RFEF as an “expert in lip reading”.
The credibility of this witness was questioned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office during the trial, which considered her a “pseudo-expert” and highlighted that the conclusions did not go through a judicially recognized evidence protocol.
After insisting that Jenni Hermoso gave consent to the kiss, Luis Rubiales’ lawyer admitted that the former president of the RFEF may, despite this, have behaved in an “inappropriate” manner, although not criminal, and therefore asked the judge for an acquittal.
In the videos invoked by Rubiales’ defense, Jenni Hermoso comments to her teammates that she did not like the kiss, which, for the former RFEF president’s lawyer, “is not incompatible with having consented to it.”
“He may not have liked the physical contact on that stage or the immediate repercussion that the kiss had in Spain and other parts of the world (…), but that does not invalidate consent, nor does it transform this conduct [by Rubiales] into a crime”, added the lawyer, who also highlighted the celebratory attitude and joy that Jenni Hermoso showed in the images after the kiss.
Also this Thursday, the lawyer representing Jenni Hermoso in the trial presented final arguments and considered that Luis Rubiales should never have kissed the player, even if he had asked her for consent, given his hierarchical superiority.
“This is not consent, this is subjugation,” said lawyer Ángel Chavarría, who considered that there was no evidence that Jenni Hermoso agreed to the kiss and that the player, whose head Rubiales grabbed, “had no chance of escaping.”
The lawyer argued that Rubiales “should never have asked him for consent, nor should it have crossed his mind” in relation to “a person who was hierarchically in a lower position and under his instructions”.
Both Ángel Chavarría and the lawyer for the Spanish Footballers’ Association, who served as the popular prosecution in this case, considered that there are reasons to convict Rubiales for kissing Jenni Hermoso and for coercion, for subsequent pressure on the player.
For the association’s lawyer, Rubiales even activated “the entire federative structure”, with “crisis meetings” to “save the president”.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s allegations were already presented on Wednesday, with the prosecutor in charge of this case maintaining the request for two and a half years in prison for the former president of the RFEF.
“It was a non-consensual kiss. I think that, after the examination, there is no doubt whatsoever,” said prosecutor Marta Durántez Gil, who highlighted the “total coherence” of Jenni Hermoso between what she said and her “immediate and subsequent” behavior, and condemned that, in 2025, “victims of sexual assault” will continue to be questioned for celebrating or laughing, in a reference to the videos of the celebration of Spain’s victory in the 2023 World Cup in Australia.
“She had conflicting feelings, she wanted to go unnoticed, so that all of this wouldn’t be reduced to an unconsented kiss, but to the triumph of the Spanish team. Is she any less of a victim because of that?”, he added.
