Final Day of Luis Rubiales' Trial for the Kiss to Jenni Hermoso

The trial of Luis Rubiales is now in its final stages. The National Court is holding the last session of the trial against Luis Rubiales, former president of the Spanish Football Federation (FEF), for the kiss to player Jennifer Hermoso after the 2023 Women's World Cup final and for the alleged subsequent coercion to gain the player's support. On Thursday, the session included reports from two accusations, including the one by the lawyer of player Jenni Hermoso, and the defense of the former president of the Spanish Football Federation.

The lawyer of Jennifer Hermoso stated that the kiss "was notorious" and that it was "six seconds that changed the life" of his client, who "had no time to react" and "never heard that he could give her a kiss or a peck," countering the thesis of the defense's lip-reading expert report of the main accused. "There is no evidence that shows Jennifer gave her approval. It was not consent, but submission," he pointed out. Following the player's lawyer, the lawyer of the Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE), who is acting as the public prosecutor, delivered her report. "Rubiales used all the mechanisms at the federation's disposal to influence the player," she asserted. The lawyer recalled Hermoso's "feeling of disgust," which increased as the hours passed due to the pressures suffered by the player.

Meanwhile, Luis Rubiales' lawyer, Olga Tubau, claimed that it has been "proven" in the trial held at the National Court that Jennifer Hermoso gave her "consent" for the kiss, and therefore requested an acquittal. According to Tubau, there are two pieces of evidence that "prove Hermoso gave her consent." The first is a live video broadcast on Instagram from the locker room, where the player can be seen with an expression "of utmost joy, drinking champagne" and supposedly watching the images of the kiss on the phone.

"Someone asks: 'Who kissed you?' And she replies: 'Eh! But I didn't like it,'" Tubau recalled, noting that Hermoso immediately added: "Well, okay." According to the lawyer, that response was to a question allegedly asked by her teammate Laia Codina, who would have questioned her about what she had said to Rubiales when he asked her for "a little kiss." The second piece of evidence, according to Rubiales' defense, is the expert report proposed by them consisting of lip-reading of the former president in the moments before the kiss. According to the expert who appeared in court, the former head of the FEF asked the player: "Can I give you a little kiss?"

On Wednesday, the prosecution presented its final conclusions and maintained the sentencing requests for the accused, in addition to Rubiales (who faces two and a half years in prison), former coach Jorge Vilda, former sports director Albert Luque, and former marketing head Rubén Rivera. For the three, it demands a year and a half in prison for a crime of coercion. In this penultimate session, the private prosecution, the public prosecution, and Rubiales' defense presented their final reports.