Former Barcelona player avoids organ trafficking charge

Former Barcelona player, Champions League winner and Sporting Director Eric Abidal has avoided charges of organ trafficking, after a Barcelona judge archived the case.

The case was opened in 2017, and archived in 2018, but was reopened again, after reported conversation between then President Sandro Rosell, and one of his associates Juan Jose Castillo, in which the latter said ‘we bought that guy an illegal liver’.

However Diario AS report that the case has been archived again, on the basis that there is no proof of payment from Abidal or Barcelona, and on the whole, the case is based on conjecture and suspicion. The case was originally brought over supposed irregularities in the donation process.

Abidal recovered from liver cancer that was diagnosed in 2011, and would end up lifting the Champions League trophy that year before later receiving a transplant. Famously, captain Carles Puyol handed over the captain’s armband so that Abidal could lift the trophy.