Harnie Gold
Member
Santi Mina, a Spanish footballer who plays for Celta Vigo, was on Wednesday, sentenced to four years imprisonment for sexual abuse which he perpetrated while he was playing for Valencia.
The 26-year-old football who began playing for Celta Vigo 2019, have however appealed against the sentence which also stated that Mina will not be able to communicate or be within a 500 metres distance to victim for 12 years.
Mina was cleared of the charge of sexual assault, for which the state prosecutor had sought a sentence of eight years in prison, which according to Spanish law necessitates proof of intimidation or violence.
However, Mina's friend David Goldar, who was with the player at the time of the incident and also a player for the second-tier club Ibiza, was acquitted after been accused of being an accomplice in the rape case.
The victim said, that Mina in June 2017, carried out the act in a campervan in Mojacar a town in south-east Spain, where Mina was on holiday with David Goldar his friend.
Celta Vigo announced on Wednesday they have "temporarily removed" Mina from the squad and "opened disciplinary proceedings to clarify his work responsibilities in view of the ruling."
Celta said the club "respect the player's right to a defence but is obliged to take measures in light of events that undermine the image of the club and directly attack its values, showing once again its absolute condemnation of the offence defined in the judicial ruling."
