Spanish giants FC Barcelona have announced the initiation of legal proceedings against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, accusing him of making slanderous statements that allegedly damaged the club’s reputation.
In an official statement, Barcelona confirmed that it has filed a mandatory request for conciliation, a legal step required before pursuing a criminal complaint under Article 205 of Spain’s Criminal Code, which deals with the crime of slander.
According to the club, the action stems from remarks made by Pérez during a press conference on May 12 and in a media interview the following day.
Barcelona stated that the objective of the lawsuit is to compel the Real Madrid president to retract comments which the club claims were made “with knowledge of their falsehood” and were harmful to its image and reputation.
“The objective of this lawsuit is for Mr. Pérez to retract certain statements he made with knowledge of his falsehood and that are slanderous and offensive to the image and reputation of the Club,” the statement read.
The Catalan club further warned that should the conciliation process fail to produce a satisfactory outcome, it will proceed with filing a formal criminal complaint against Pérez.
