Luis Rubiales’ mother has locked herself in a church and begun a hunger strike until her son is cleared, according to reports in Spain.
The Spanish FA President Rubiales, 46, still remains in his post despite being provisionally suspended by FIFA and condemned across the world for kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips without her consent following Spain’s Women’s World Cup win over England earlier this month.
An emergency assembly was called last Friday in which Rubiales was expected to resign, but instead he gave an astonishing speech in which he hit out at his critics and insisted he would not leave.
The RFEF later revealed they would be taking legal action against Hermoso and accused her of ‘lying’ about her version of events, even presenting images they claimed showed she had instigated the interaction and lifted the federation president off his feet.
That has only prompted further disgust towards the Spanish FA, with the players who were celebrating the biggest victory of their careers barely a week ago, refusing to play while Rubiales remains and the entire coaching staff, save for controversial manager Jorge Vilda, resigning.
Now yet another twist has been added to the events, with reports in Spain claiming Luis Rubiales’ mother Angeles Bejar, has declared a hunger strike until a solution is found to the ‘inhumane and bloody witch hunt they are doing to my son’.
According to Spanish newspaper agency EFE, pensioner Bejar and her sister-in-law snuck into the church of the Divina Pastora de Motril in Granada on Monday morning after the priest had left and are refusing to leave.
She says she will not eat or leave the church ‘indefinitely, day and night’ until Hermoso has ‘told the truth’ and the campaign against her son – ‘which he does not deserve’ – is ended.
‘There is no sexual aggression because there was consent by both parties,’ she said in a statement read out by her niece outside the church.
‘My son is incapable of harming anyone. As a mother I ask everyone for their understanding as this is a situation that could affect anyone.’
It is unclear if police will be called to the church to resolve the situation, but there will be further updates to the Rubiales affair on Monday afternoon with the RFEF having called another emergency meeting.