Santi Mina, a Spanish forward for Celta Vigo, was sentenced to four years in jail for sexual abuse in Almeria in 2017.
The 26-year-old Celta Vigo forward, who has represented Spain at the U-21 level, has chosen to appeal the term but will be forced to serve it if his appeal is dismissed by the Spanish Supreme Court.
Mina was sentenced for a 2017 incident in which he was accused of forcing himself on a woman against her will. According to Mina and his lawyers, the connection was consensual. Mina was dismissed for sexual assault accusations during the hearing, which could have resulted in a term of up to ten years in prison, effectively ending his football career.
Mina was sentenced to eight years in jail by the state prosecutor, although the victim’s lawyers were requesting nine and a half years.
Celta Vigo, Mina’s LaLiga club, removed him from their team as a precautionary measure until the case was resolved. The player will be subjected to a disciplinary investigation by the Spanish club. This season, Mina has appeared in 33 games for Celta, scoring seven goals and assisting on three others. Celta is currently in 12th place in the table.
