Spanish footballer Rafa Mir has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison and ordered to pay €64,000 ($74,000) in compensation after being convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman.
Mir insists he is innocent. He and his lawyer stressed that the sexual acts were consensual. The ruling is not yet legally binding and he will appeal.
"I don't understand the verdict and we will appeal in the coming days. I still have confidence in the justice system," he wrote on Instagram.
Fellow footballer Pablo Jara, who was also charged in the same criminal proceedings, was convicted of sexual assault against a second woman and sentenced to two and half years in prison.
The 23-year-old victim of Mir told the court she was raped by him in 2024 at his villa in Valencia. She said she resisted Mir in tears. Jara was accused of harassing a friend of the 23-year-old and finally throwing her out of the villa half-naked.
Mir took part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 with the Spanish national team, who picked up a silver medal.
