Explicit video and three years of doubts: an awaited court ruling to decide the fate of a Real Madrid star

The Real Madrid star is dreaming of receiving good news next Thursday, to escape the spectre of imprisonment and a long spell away from football.

Spain's public prosecutor has demanded a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence against Real Madrid defender Raúl Asencio, then left a door open to avoiding the penalty on one condition: that he apologises to the victims.

According to the newspaper "AS", Asencio is still recovering from the physical problems that hampered him at the start of the season, and he is taking a break from football.

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Barring the unexpected, he will appear before the San Bartolomé de Tirajana court, in his home city of Gran Canaria, next Thursday at nine o'clock in the morning local time, hoping to be acquitted of the privacy violation charge he faces for showing an explicit video.

That video shows a young woman, a minor at the time, alongside another woman and three of his former teammates at the Real Madrid youth academy: Ferran Ruiz, Andrés García, and Juan Rodríguez.

The events date back to the summer of 2023 at a beach club in the south of Gran Canaria, where the footballers were spending a few days of their holiday.

Asencio did not take part in the video and did not appear in the explicit images taken there. He simply showed the footage to a third party, which led to it being reported.

Now, though, he could be cleared of the legal charges after three years. Legally, the two young women who appeared in the video must document their acceptance of the apology, while the prosecutor, barring the unexpected, must then withdraw the charges against Asencio, dropping any criminal liability against the Real Madrid defender.

The charge against him relates to semi-public offences against privacy. Under Spanish law, that allows the charges or the criminal liability to be withdrawn once the two victims formally accept the apology.

The case against Ruiz, García and Rodríguez rumbles on, however. The victims' pardon carried no weight there because the offences differ: in their case, the distribution of child pornography material is alleged.

For those charges, the prosecutor does not accept the victims' pardon as a mitigating factor. The young woman who appeared in the video told "AS" in an exclusive interview: "No one will make me feel guilty. It is their fault".

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