Suspended RFEF President Luis Rubiales has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past seven days, and has seen widespread condemnation from across the football community. Something his mother has described as inhumane.
Rubiales was suspended by FIFA for 90 days, while the Ministry for Sport in Spain are also looking to hand down their own suspension in the coming days. Following his speech at an RFEF General Assembly, where he was expected to resign but instead promised legal action against Jenni Hermoso, victim of his non-consented kiss, and various politicians who had asked for sanctions. Spain men’s and women’s coaches Luis de la Fuente and Jorge Vilda have been the last in a long line to distance themselves from him.
Angeles Bejar, Rubiales’ mother, has locked herself in the Divine Pastor Church in his hometown of Motril, where she has gone on hunger strike. Her sister is with her, both of whom remained in the church after the priest left.
She has described the recent reporting on him as an “inhumane and bloodthirsty witchhunt that they are carrying out with my son, something he does not deserve.”
She also went on to say that ‘there was something behind this’, and urged Hermoso to roll back to her original declarations on the matter and ‘tell the truth’, as per Marca.
Meanwhile Rubiales’ cousin, Vanessa Ruiz also spoke to Relevo, affirming that ‘anyone who was spent five minutes with Luis knows that he is a beautiful person, with a very good heart’.
“If this woman (Hermoso) felt assaulted from the first moment, she would have gone where she had to go, not changed her story three times.”
Vanessa Ruiz, prima de Rubiales:
🗨 "Quien pase 5 minutos con Luis sabe que es una bellísima persona, con muy buen corazón".
🗨 "Si esta mujer (Jenni Hermoso) se sentía acosada desde el primer momento, que hubiese ido donde tenía que ir, no haber cambiado la versión 3 veces". pic.twitter.com/puBstKTgr1
— Relevo (@relevo) August 28, 2023
It should be noted that Hermoso’s original statement on the matter has since been reported as falsely written in her name. It was in fact written by a member of the RFEF communications department. Hermoso has also put out a statement declaring that the kiss was not consensual, and will via her agency and union look to take action against Rubiales.
