The former director of the RFEF maintains that Hermoso approved the statement in which the former president’s kiss was removed
MADRID, 2 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The men’s soccer coach, Luis de la Fuente, indicated this Thursday in his statement as a witness before the judge of the National Court investigating the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales that at no time was he aware of that pressure arose within the framework of the movements that were carried out within the Federation to extinguish the controversy aroused by the kiss that the former president gave to Jenni Hermoso.
This is confirmed by legal sources to Europa Press, who point out that De la Fuente has responded to the questions posed by the prosecutor and the accusations to basically indicate that he knew nothing at all about what happened.
One of the questions that was on the table was to know if she was at the integrity meeting that was held at the RFEF after the World Cup controversy and to obtain the version of Patricia Pérez, press officer of the women’s team. As Pérez herself explained to the judge, several people were present at that meeting, including Rubiales, Rubiales’s father and De la Fuente himself.
But this Thursday, the coach, who upon leaving the press told the press that he was going home “happy” and that it had gone “very well,” explained to the magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction number 1, Francisco de Jorge, that He did not participate in that meeting that was held in Rubiales’ office, although he was in an adjoining room from which he entered and left through the place where that meeting was held in which Pérez was supposedly pressured.
Legal sources have indicated at the end of his appearance, which lasted around 30 minutes, that several of those present at the interrogation have wondered why his testimony had been proposed given that it would have contributed little.
De la Fuente was the last to testify this Thursday, before that the former Communications Director of the Federation Pablo García Cuervo appeared as a witness who, in the framework of the case opened against Rubiales for the alleged crimes of sexual assault and coercion of Following the kiss he gave soccer player Jenni Hermoso on the mouth at the World Cup trophy ceremony held in Australia, he has referred to two of the critical moments that occurred after the kiss gained media and social relevance.
One of them has been the writing of the statement prepared by the RFEF that was shown to Hermoso after the World Cup was won and that was subsequently disseminated, in which some words were put into the player’s mouth that took away the significance of the action of Rubiales.
Hermoso pointed out that he never said those words that were included in the statement, but this Thursday García Cuervo, and according to the sources consulted, has maintained before the judge and the prosecutor that the player gave him approval and that he only added that after approving that note of The press did not want to know anything more about the matter and that was the last thing they were going to do about it.
Furthermore, García Cuervo has explained that the writing of this statement was at the direction of Rubiales himself and that, although it was not written by the president in person, it was agreed upon with him. During the interrogation of the prosecutor, tense at times, the former director would have gone so far as to assert that the statement would include the same thing that Hermoso declared to Cadena Cope, and would have added that this press release is questioned by the player and not what was said before Cope’s microphones because what was recorded cannot be regretted.
On the other hand, he has pointed out about the approval that the player gave to the statement before two witnesses – one of them would be Patricia Pérez – that the player is an adult and that logically if she did not want something to be published she would have said it with clarity.
The second of the moments that García Cuervo, who was fired after learning that he should testify as a witness in the case, was asked about, was the meeting with the person responsible for integrity Miguel Ángel García Caba in which Pérez would have been pressured. , in his words. García Cuervo explained that at that meeting he did not see pressure towards the press officer of the women’s team, although he has clarified that they were not the best circumstances to hold that meeting.
The third person who testified this Thursday as a witness was the Federation’s Deputy Director of Communication, Enrique Yunta. He has maintained before the judge that Patricia Pérez was given the opportunity to change whatever was necessary in a first draft of what she declared.
After these testimonies, on November 14 the judge will take a statement as witnesses from the psychologist of the women’s team, Javier López Vallejo; to the former director of cabinet of Luis Rubiales, José María Timón; and the person in charge of compliance for the national team, Javier Pujol. Two days later, he will also hear as witnesses from the soccer player Laia Codina and the president of the National Women’s Soccer Committee, Rafael del Amo.
In addition, on November 16, a witness who witnessed the conversation between former coach Jorge Vilda and the brother of the player Rafael Hermoso on the plane returning to Spain from Australia after the World Cup will hear.
On the 30th of this month there will also be a confrontation between a friend of the player, Ana Belén Ecube, and the marketing director of the RFEF, Rubén Rivera, who appeared under investigation for possible coercion of the player.
Before the judge, Rubiales defended that the kiss was a “display of affection” that occurred “naturally”, in the light of “millions of eyes” and that it was “with consent.” When asked by Hermoso’s lawyer, he asserted that it was a “totally extraordinary celebration,” that he asked the player before kissing her and that it occurred “with consent.”
“If I asked him before, how could I not respect him?”, he responded to the question of whether he considered that he had respected the player by kissing her on the mouth, and then pointed out that after that episode Hermoso “left dying of laughter” and giving him “two slaps in the side.”
However, in her statement before the Prosecutor’s Office, revealed by the Telecinco program ‘Código 10’, Hermoso declared that the kiss was not consensual nor did she feel respected as a person and soccer player. “They were subjecting me to something that I never sought or did to find myself in that situation,” she revealed.
