August 29 – The mother of under-fire Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales has begun a hunger strike in defence of her son as the pressure continues to grow on him to resign over “that” kiss.
The scandal surrounding Rubiales’ refusal to accept Jenni Hermoso’s insistence that his kiss on her lips was not consensual has overshadowed Spain’s 1-0 victory against England in the Women’s World Cup final.
Rubiales’ mother, Ángeles Béjar, says she will remain on hunger strike “night and day” at a church in southern Spain until what she called the “inhumane hounding” of her son ends.
Speaking outside the church in the southern town of Motril, Rubiales’ cousin, Vanessa Ruiz, joined his mother in calling on Hermoso to “tell the truth.”
Meanwhile the leaders of the regional bodies that make up the RFEF staged a u-turn on Monday in adding their collective voices to calls for Rubiales to step down.
Having initially backed their leader’s version of events, they called on Rubiales to resign “after the latest developments and the unacceptable behaviour that has caused great damage to the image of Spanish soccer.”
Earlier in the day, the National Court’s Prosecutors Office said it was opening a preliminary investigation into whether the kiss was a sexual aggression offense and said it would give Hermoso 15 days to file a formal complaint as an alleged victim of sexual aggression.
In other developments hundreds of people gathered in the centre of Madrid on Monday evening in support of Hermoso and against Rubiales who is a vice-president of UEFA.
So far, UEFA has failed to comment on the case but it is understood they have been in regular contact with FIFA which has banned Rubiales for 90 days pending a disciplinary investigation.
Since the affair falls under FIFA’s jurisdiction, UEFA has agreed to let the investigation take its course before issuing any public statements.
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