Spanish justice has once again closed its investigation into the liver transplant undergone in 2012 by former French FC Barcelona player Éric Abidal, due to the lack of conclusive evidence, we learned on Monday from 'a judicial source.
“The file was closed”
by the magistrate in charge of the case
“due to a lack of evidence relating to the commission of a crime
,” said this source, without giving further details.
Defender of Barça and the French team, then sporting director of the Catalan club from 2018 to 2020, Éric Abidal underwent a transplant in Barcelona in 2012 to treat liver cancer, which took him away from the field for a year .
The player claimed that his cousin Gérard Armand, domiciled in France, was the donor.
The latter assured that he had received nothing,
“not a cent”
, in exchange.
Already closed in 2018 for lack of evidence, the investigation into the possible offense of organ trafficking was reopened in January 2019 on the orders of magistrates of the Barcelona Provincial Court who considered
“the existence of new clues to be accredited”
.
The reopening of the investigation had been requested, in particular by the prosecution, after the publication by the media El Confidencial of recordings of the former president of Barça, Sandro Rosell, suggesting that the club had purchased - illegally - a liver for his former player.
Barça, Eric Abidal, Sandro Rosell and the Spanish organization responsible for organ donation (ONT) have always denied any crime.