Spain’s highest court has established a legal precedent by ruling that kissing someone’s hand without permission constitutes sexual assault rather than mere street harassment, rejecting defence arguments that sought a lesser charge.
The Supreme Court’s 5 March verdict centred on a 2023 incident at an Alcobendas bus stop near Madrid, where a man approached a woman and kissed her hand whilst gesturing for her to accompany him and offering money.
Defence lawyers attempted to characterise the behaviour as street harassment warranting a reduced penalty, but judges determined the physical contact represented a clear breach of sexual integrity laws.
“There was therefore an act of sexual assault, insofar as the action describes contact of a sexual nature and tone that the victim had no obligation to endure, with clearly sexual content and an infringement upon the victim by reducing her to an object,” the court stated.
The perpetrator received a fine exceeding £1,280—matching the original conviction—establishing that unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature meets the legal threshold for assault regardless of whether penetration or more severe actions occurred.
The ruling reflects Spain’s strengthened consent framework implemented in 2022, which made explicit consent mandatory for sexual acts following sustained pressure from survivors and women’s rights organisations.
The legislative reforms gained global prominence during the 2023 Women’s World Cup final celebrations, when Luis Rubiales, then Spanish Football Federation president, kissed forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips without warning during Sydney’s medal ceremony.
A Spanish court convicted Rubiales of sexual assault in 2025, imposing a £10,800 fine and prohibiting him from approaching within 200 metres of Hermoso for twelve months alongside a year-long contact ban.
Judge José Manuel Clemente Fernández-Prieto determined Rubiales “grabbed the player’s head with both hands and, then, in a sudden manner and without her consent and acceptance, kissed her on the lips.”
The verdict noted Rubiales had celebrated differently with other players—through hugging or cheek-kissing—undermining his claim the kiss was spontaneous and consensual. “This action of kissing a woman on the lips has a clear sexual connotation and is not the way people greet those with whom they are not in an emotional relationship,” the judge stated.
Rubiales maintained the kiss was consensual, telling the Madrid court: “I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission. In that moment, it was something completely spontaneous.”
However, Fernández-Prieto accepted Hermoso’s testimony that she never agreed to the act, noting their previously positive professional relationship meant she had no motivation to fabricate allegations.
Hermoso described how the incident and subsequent backlash devastated her life. “I’m a world champion but it seems that even to this day my life has been on standby. I honestly haven’t been able to live freely,” she stated.
