Luis Rubiales’ mother goes on hunger strike, pleads Hermoso to ‘tell the truth’
The mother of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has reportedly gone on a hunger strike and pleaded Jennifer Hermoso to “tell the truth” about the Fifa women’s world cup kiss scandal.
She said that she will continue the hunger strike because of the “inhuman hunt” against her son.
After Spain won the Women’s World Cup final, 46 year old Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips, drawing harsh condemnation.
Angeles Bejar, his mother, is currently sequestered inside a church in Motril.
She told Spanish news agency EFE the strike would continue “indefinite, day and night”.
Hermoso, 33, said that the kiss that occurred on August 20 during the presentation ceremony in Sydney was not consensual.
Rubiales promised not to retire on Friday, but Fifa, the organisation that oversees world football, suspended him on Saturday, reported BBC.
Spanish reporters have gathered outside the Divina Pastora church in Motril, a town on the southern coast of Spain, where Rubiales was raised.
Bejar told EFE that the “inhuman and bloody hunt that they are doing with my son is something he does not deserve”.
Rubiales’ cousin Vanessa Ruiz, who acts as a family spokesperson in Motril, said: “We are suffering a lot for him. He has been judged before his time.
“They (media) don’t stop harassing us. We had to leave our house. We want them to leave us alone and for Jenni to tell the truth. It’s not fair.”
The suspension of Rubiales has been requested by the Spanish government and will be reviewed at a TAD meeting on Monday.
The regional federations have also been invited to an “extraordinary and urgent” meeting on Monday by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) “to assess the situation in which the federation finds itself.”
When Fifa stated on Saturday that it had suspended Rubiales, it instructed him, the RFEF, and its representatives and staff not to make an effort to get in touch with Hermoso, whom the RFEF had earlier that day threatened with legal action.