Real Madrid defender Raul Asencio has responded to his indictment for allegedly distributing a sexual video involving a minor in June 2023.
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Asencio under investigationOther Real Madrid youth stars also accusedCentre-back maintains innocence in lengthy statementFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Asencio has been under investigation since 2023 for allegedly being involved in the making and sharing of a sexual video of a minor. The 22-year-old Real Madrid defender has since been cleared of his involvement in the creation of the alleged video, but has been charged by a court in Gran Canaria for allegedly sharing the video made by his Real Madrid youth team-mates Ferran Ruiz, Andres Garcia and Juan Rodriguez.
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The three other players have been indicted for 'disclosure of secrets without consent, and violation of privacy, distributing and sending videos to third parties without consent, capturing and using minors for pornographic purposes and possession of child pornography', while Asencio will only be prosecuted on charges of 'revealing secrets for showing the video to a third party and of child pornography'. The Spain defender has now opened up on the court ruling and pleaded innocence in the matter.
WHAT ASENCIO SAID
On social media platform X, Asencio released a statement which read: "Following the clarification issued today by the head of the Investigating Court No. 3 of San Bartolome de Tirajana – in which the initial indictment order was amended, expressly excluding me from both the recording of videos with sexual content and the events that were the subject of said recording – and in view of the public dissemination of information related to said procedure, I wish to state the following:
"1. I have not participated in any behaviour that violates the sexual freedom of any woman, much less that of minors.
"This is confirmed by the ruling issued by the aforementioned Court, which does not accuse me of having had sexual relations with the two women involved, nor of having recorded them, with or without their consent. Likewise, the court order clarifies that I was not the one who sent any intimate images or videos to third parties, which, I reiterate, were recorded in a location other than where I was.
"2. The court order, as far as I am concerned, limits its content to the eventual momentary viewing of some images by a third party, without attributing to me any participation in their recording or dissemination.
"3. The charges brought against me, as expressly stated in the court ruling itself, are strictly provisional. Therefore, the presumption of innocence must continue to prevail. Should charges ultimately be filed and a trial commence, I will continue to defend myself before the Courts and Tribunals, in which I have full confidence, reaffirming my innocence of any criminal conduct. All of this is without prejudice to the utmost respect for the conduct of the judicial proceedings as a whole, including those of the other persons under investigation.
"4. I want to reiterate, once again, my absolute respect for the rights to sexual freedom and privacy of all women."
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR ASENCIO?
According to reports, Asencio and the three players could be tried under Article 197 of the Spanish Criminal Code, which stipulates that anyone found guilty of filming and disseminating an explicit video of a youngster faces a sentence of three-and-a-half to five years in prison. If convicted of non-consensual recording, this would be reduced to a term of two-and-a-half to four years in prison. Asencio should receive a lighter punishment if he is guilty of just distributing the video.
