The National Court will allow Jordi Pujol to appear via videoconference

BarcelonaFormer Catalan president Jordi Pujol will be able to appear remotely in the trial against him and his entire family. The National Court, which will try him starting next week, has agreed "that next Monday, before the start of the hearing, Jordi Pujol and Soley, as well as the forensic doctors who issued the report on his state of health and the parties involved in this proceeding, will appear via videoconference." The judges of the second section of the criminal chamber agreed to this appearance "in order to examine the state of health" of the former president.

The court's decision comes after Pujol's hospitalization. this weekend due to pneumoniaAccording to his son Oriol Pujol, speaking to the media, his condition is improving and he could be discharged from the Sagrada Família Clinic in Barcelona on Thursday. The former president has improved, although he continues to suffer from respiratory insufficiency due to a somewhat acute lung infection. The pneumonia, while leaving him in a low mood, has not prevented the 95-year-old former president from wanting to testify in the trial for his family's alleged involvement in organized crime. However, he would prefer to do so remotely, without having to travel to Madrid. The trial is scheduled to consist of approximately fifty sessions, a request the court has accepted with this first step next week.

Pujol's Health

On the other hand, Oriol Pujol explained that "his fever has practically disappeared," indicating a sign of improvement, and insisted that he is currently "stable." The Convergència founder's illness comes just a week before the trial against him and his family, after several months of declining health. At the end of October, the former president submitted three medical reports to the court for an assessment of his health. It allowed him to attend and testify at the trialLast week, the forensic doctor examined him. The court has already ruled that his physical presence at the trial in Madrid is unnecessary and that he can follow and participate remotely from the City of Justice in Barcelona. Pujol's defense argued that his health condition does not permit him to travel to the Spanish capital. However, they have not yet requested a postponement of the trial against the former president and his family given this health circumstance. This court appearance, which begins next Monday, has marked a turning point for the former president after a decade of investigations and will conclude in May. In the trial, the prosecution is seeking a nine-year prison sentence for Pujol, and for his children, sentences ranging from eight to twenty-nine years. Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, the eldest son, faces nearly three decades in prison. The State Attorney's Office, however, is not requesting any prison sentence for the former president and is requesting twenty-five years for his eldest son.