Jordi Pujol is progressing "positively" and could leave the hospital on Thursday

BarcelonaAfter being admitted to the hospital this weekend due to pneumoniaFormer Catalan president Jordi Pujol is "progressing favorably" and could be discharged from the Sagrada Família Clinic in Barcelona on Thursday. According to his son, Oriol Pujol, speaking to the media, the former president has improved, although he continues to experience "respiratory insufficiency stemming from a somewhat acute lung infection." The pneumonia, while leaving him in a "low" state of mind, has not prevented the 95-year-old former president from maintaining his willingness to testify in the trial for his family's alleged involvement in an illicit organization, which begins next week at the National Court. However, he will testify remotely, rather than traveling to Madrid for the proceedings, which are scheduled to last around fifty sessions. Oriol Pujol explained that "his fever has practically disappeared," indicating improvement, and emphasized that he is currently "stable." The illness of the founder of Convergència comes just a week before his trial and that of his family at the National Court, 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 must consider whether he is fit to handle the role of the defense and, if so, the possibility of him not having to attend the trial in person in Madrid, but rather following and participating remotely from the City of Justice in Barcelona. Pujol's defense argued that his health condition does not allow him to travel to the Spanish capital. However, they have not yet requested the suspension 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. The eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, 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.

The Pujol family, ready for the trial of the decade