On Monday the trial of Luis Rubiales began, with Spain star Jenni Hermoso giving testimony in court over the course of several hours. The ex-President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation is accused of sexual assault, after kissing Hermoso live on television without her consent during the 2023 World Cup celebrations.
Rubiales could also face a sentence for coercion, after he and various other members of the RFEF attempted to push Hermoso into hushing up the incident. That includes former La Roja Sporting Director Albert Luque, who pressured Hermoso’s family in an attempt to get her to cover up the incident. Hermoso referred to the incidents as ‘tarnishing some of the happiest days of her life‘.
🧑🏻⚖️🗣️ El juez contesta a De la Fuente tras decir que él no viene para hablar de ese tema: “Uno no elige de lo que va a hablar, viene a responder a lo que se le pregunte…” pic.twitter.com/9W7IJ6VCQp
— MARCA (@marca) February 4, 2025
On Tuesday, the declarations to the court continued, with Spain manager Luis de la Fuente gave his testimony, amid frequent frustration from the judge with the lack of clarity given by some of the witnesses. De la Fuente was involved on that basis, but now Cadena SER (via Diario AS) are reporting that the prosecution are considering charging de la Fuente with perjury.
They believe that de la Fuente may not have been entirely honest on two occasions. Firstly, de la Fuente testified that he was in ‘another part of an office’ during a meeting with Rubiales, in which the ex-RFEF President discussed strategy for the crisis management in the aftermath of his alleged sexual assault. Other witnesses say he was there.
When giving his statement to the police before the trial, de la Fuente admitted he was aware of Rubiales and the plan to exculpate him on the flight back from the World Cup to Spain. During the trial, de la Fuente testified in court that he was asleep while this was going on. If this does come to pass, it will only come to light at the end of the trial, which will see testimony for the next two weeks.
