The press chief of the Spanish women's team, Patricia Pérez, declared this Thursday in the National Court that she received pressure in relation to the statements of the player Jenni Hermoso after the kiss that the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, hit him after the World Cup final.
Pérez gave a statement as a witness before Judge Francisco de Jorge, head of the Central Court of Instruction number 1, which is investigating Rubiales for sexual assault and coercion, and admitted having received pressure from federal officials regarding the version of events, as best he could. confirm EFE.
The press officer for the team, who attended the Court with a lawyer, also handed over her mobile phone to the court to proceed with her statement in relation to the alleged coercion of the footballer and her entourage to make her say that the kiss was consensual.
The player's brother, Rafael Hermoso, who already gave a statement as a witness on the 25th, also went to court today to also proceed to dump his cell phone so that the calls and messages that came to him could be reviewed so that he allegedly interfered. in the soccer player's story about what happened in the World Cup final in Sydney (Australia).
This day the judge also heard the witness statement of the former director of Integrity of the RFEF, Miguel García Caba, who defended his actions in relation to the internal report prepared by the department he headed about what happened in the World Cup final and which closed without any consequence for the former president and without hearing the testimony of Jenni Hermoso, according to sources close to the case.
Luis Rubiales himself, in the Assembly that the RFEF held on August 25 where he maintained that he was not going to resign, as he later did on September 10, explained that the RFEF Integrity Department had carried out the relevant procedures to clarify the facts.
On the 22nd, the RFEF, which is headed by a management commission chaired by Pedro Rocha, announced that it was dispensing with the services of García Caba, who joined the organization when Luis Rubiales became president in May 2018.
The departures of Caba and that of Andreu Camps as general secretary the day before occurred after claims made by the national team players for the RFEF to restructure the general secretariat and integrity areas, as well as the women's football organizational chart, the presidential office and the communications and marketing area.
The round of statements will continue next Monday, October 2, with the appearance as witnesses of three national team players: Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes, who will do so by video call, and Misa Rodríguez.
On October 10 it will be the turn of former women's coach Jorge Vilda, dismissed on September 5, of the national team director Albert Luque and of the RFEF Marketing director, Rubén Rivera, all three as investigated.
