Spanish public prosecutors demanded Friday that suspended football chief Luis Rubiales be indicted for sexual assault over his unsolicited kiss on the lips of player Jenni Hermoso at the Women’s World Cup final.
“The prosecutors request that Luis Rubiales be questioned as an accused and Jenni Hermoso as a victim,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
A judge at Spain’s top criminal court must now decide whether to accept or archive the request.
Prosecutors have asked the judge that Rubiales appear before a court to give preliminary testimony. If the National Court judge agrees the hear the case, it would lead to a formal court investigation that will end with a recommendation for the case to either be dismissed or go to trial.
Under Spanish law, sexual assault includes a wide array of crimes from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different penalties.
The punishment for a non-consensual kiss can range from a fine to four years in prison.
Spanish football federation (RFEF) president Rubiales, 46, sparked a worldwide backlash after forcibly kissing Hermoso during the medal ceremony following Spain’s triumph in Sydney on August 20.
Hermoso, 33, later said the unwanted kiss had left her feeling “vulnerable and like the victim of an assault”, with a statement on social media describing it as “an impulsive, macho act, out of place and with no type of consent on my part”. Rubiales insists the kiss was consensual.
