Prosecutors in Spain have launched an investigation into the country’s football federation president Luis Rubiales, as the storm surrounding his kissing of player Jenni Hermoso intensifies.
On Monday, Spain’s top criminal court — the Audiencia Nacional — said prosecutors had “opened a preliminary investigation to look into the facts, which could constitute an offence of sexual assault”, in a statement to the AFP news service.
There have been escalating calls for Mr Rubiales to resign.
They stemmed from when he grabbed and kissed Hermoso on stage at Stadium Australia in Sydney, after Spain won the FIFA Women’s World Cup on August 20.
He has, so far, refused to do so and says the kiss was consensual.
However Hermoso has said that was not the case.
Mr Rubiales is due to front an urgent meeting of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday.
Mother goes on hunger strike
The incident took a bizarre turn earlier on Monday when Mr Rubiales’ mother, Angeles Bejar, told state news agency EFE she was going on a hunger strike until a “solution is found to the inhumane and bloody hunt they are carrying out against my son”.
She has reportedly entered a church in Mr Rubiales’ hometown in the country’s south, where she plans to starve herself.
Mr Rubiales’ cousin, Demeiza Bejar Sanchez, described the hunger strike as “logical and normal”.
“She could get sick. But she’s his mother, and mothers know that when (your son) is being treated unfairly and is being attacked, it’s normal for a mother as faithful as she is to ask God for help,” she said.
“A point comes where you’re overtaken with desperation and you don’t know where else to look. It’s logical and normal.”
On Saturday, the sport’s global governing body FIFA provisionally suspended Mr Rubiales for 90 days.
The suspension means he cannot participate in “football-related activities at national and international level” or contact Hermoso.
Feminist groups stated demonstrations in Madrid on Sunday and Monday, denouncing Mr Rubiales’ behaviour.
Last week, all of Spain’s world cup squad, as well as dozens of other players, said they would not play for the national team while Mr Rubiales was still in a job.