On Wednesday, Santi Mina, a Celta Vigo footballer, was sentenced to four years in prison for sexual abuse. There will be no talking or being near the victim for 12 years because of what the judge said. Mina has tried to change the sentence.
According to Spanish law, if you’re charged with sexual assault, you can get up to eight years in prison if you can show that you were intimidated or violent. The 26-year-old was not charged with these crimes.
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David Goldar, a friend of Mina’s who plays for a second-tier team called Ibiza, was accused of being an accomplice. He was found not guilty, though.
The woman said that Mina raped her in a campervan in June 2017 in the town of Mojacar in south-eastern Spain, where Mina and Goldar were on vacation with their friends.
Celtic Vigo says they have “temporarily” taken Mina out of the team and started disciplinary proceedings to figure out what he can and can’t do at work in light of the court ruling.
People at Celta say they “respect” a player’s right to defend themselves, but the club has to take action because of things that hurt its image and directly attack its values. Celta says it “absolutely condemns” what the judge said was a crime.
Mina was a Valencia player at the time of the crime. In 2019, he joined Celta.
