Former Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales has argued that he ‘can’t understand’ why anyone would interpret his kiss on Jenni Hermoso as s*xual assault.
Rubiales, 46, was detained Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing corruption investigation unrelated to the ‘unwanted’ kiss he gave footballer Jenni Hermoso during Spain’s Women’s World Cup women’s final victory over England last August.
The arrest is related to alleged financial violations during his tenure as head of the Spanish FA, and it centres on business transactions, including one to hold the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Rubiales is still facing a possible penalty for his acts last August, with Spanish prosecutors seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the former FA chief.
Rubiales has now come out in an interview with Spanish TV La Sexta, taking aim at the judge who accused him with compulsion and sexual assault for his ‘unwanted’ Hermoso kiss, saying: “I think his way of describing my words is manipulative.”
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“I cannot understand that anyone could think this was a s*xual assault” before rejecting any coercion by saying: “I only spoke 10 or 15 seconds with Miss Hermoso.”
The whole interview will run at 9:30 p.m. BST, however the source has already aired a clip from the discussion in which Rubiales expressed his position.
Last month, public prosecutors engaged in the ‘Kissgate’ case stated that Rubiales should face a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
They said in an indictment sent to Madrid-based judge Francisco de Jorge that if he was found guilty of s*xual assault at trial, he should be imprisoned for a year and another 18 months for coercion in connection with his alleged attempts to persuade the footballer to speak out in his defence following his World Cup kiss.
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