Despite the conviction, Rubiales continues to insist he did nothing criminal. He has since confirmed that he has submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court to clear his name.
“Yes, I have appealed the sentence. When there is a sentence, we all have an obligation to abide by it,” he said in an interview with El Chiringuito.
“We believe this is not sexual assault, and we have the right to appeal. There was a tremendous, disproportionate modification. It was dubbed ‘non-consensual kissing.’ It has to reach the Supreme Court. There has to be sexual intent in the kiss. We have our arguments to say that there was a wrongful act, but not a crime.”
Rubiales has repeatedly framed the situation as an overreaction borne from political and social agendas.
“It was a mistake, I wasn’t right. From there to everything that’s been blown out of proportion, distorted, taken to the extreme… with certain interests. It’s more than I deserved,” he said. “I stand by it. I apologise, I apologise again. As president, I should have been more composed, more professional.
“I saw an immediate move by the far left in this country, with an immediate change of script. Pedro Sanchez needed the support of the separatists to be sworn in [as prime minister], and he had to grant them amnesty. It suited him well to talk about something else. It was a smokescreen. Media outlets that receive significant funding from the league attacked me. I saw that the far left, with their hypocrisy of blowing a minor issue out of proportion… they were clearly after me.”
What continues to anger many observers is Rubiales’ refusal to apologise directly to Hermoso. His explanation has only heightened the controversy.
“I’m not apologising to Jenni Hermoso because I asked her and she said: ‘Okay’. Jenni and I know that what the ruling says isn’t true,” he insisted. “It was a kiss of emotion, with no sexual connotation whatsoever. Jenni was a good friend, she missed a penalty… she helped us a lot in rebuilding the team. Jenni was my friend.
“I spoke to her on the plane. I told her that we should both come forward and say what we’ve said. She refused. It was said that there was pressure, and we requested the video to show that there was no such pressure, but the judge did not deem it appropriate to show the video.”