Spanish High Court fines Luis Rubiales for kissing Jennifer Hermoso but acquits on coercion charges
The judge imposes a fine of €10,800 on the former president of the RFEF and issues a restraining order prohibiting him from coming within 200 meters of the player
The Spanish National High Court has sentenced Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), for the unsolicited kiss on Jennifer Hermoso after the final of the 2023 World Cup. Judge José Manuel Clemente Fernández-Prieto, head of the Central Criminal Court, imposed a fine of €10,800 ($11,288) for a crime of sexual assault, but acquitted Rubiales of allegedly coercing the player after the incident to publicly justify his actions. The prosecution had sought two and a half years in prison for the former RFEF president. The ruling also prohibits Rubiales from approaching Hermoso within a radius of 200 meters and from communicating with her for a year, as well as obliging him to compensate the victim with €3,000 and to cover 50% of the costs of the judicial process, “excluding those caused by the class action” brought by the Spanish Footballers’ Association.
