The National High Court excludes Jordi Pujol from the case due to impossibility of defense

San Fernando de HenaresI don't know if upon leaving the National Court, former president Jordi Pujol has had his life flash before his eyes, as if it were a movie. This Monday, April 27, after fourteen years of investigation, his judicial journey has come to an end. The proceedings that began in 2012 concerning his eldest son —the epicenter of the case— and which worsened with the confession about grandfather Florenci's inheritance in 2014, have ended in his case because he is no longer in a condition to be tried. This has been decided by the National Court, which has communicated his exclusion from the proceedings due to cognitive decline. As doctors have repeatedly stated, it has confirmed the "impossibility" of Jordi Pujol continuing as an accused with "full knowledge and capacities." In other words, there will be no trial for Jordi Pujol y Soley.

The decision has been accompanied by controversy. Not because of the outcome of the ruling —all doctors had indicated he was not in a condition to stand trial— but because of how it was handled. The court presided over by Ricardo de Prada made the decision on the day he was summoned to testify as an accused, despite the fact that at the beginning of the proceedings, forensic experts from the National Court had already concluded that he was not in physical and psychological condition. The magistrates communicated last week that they wanted to see the former president face to face, which forced Pujol to travel to Madrid at the age of 95. This Monday, De Prada wished to justify himself: in his opinion, "personal contact" with the court was necessary to make a decision, as they could not transfer this responsibility to the doctors. "It was essential," he reaffirmed, regarding the obligation to make Pujol go to San Fernando de Henares.

The act of making the former president travel has been widely criticized in Catalonia. Apart from Junts —"They are miserable," assured former president Carles Puigdemont—, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, also criticized the decision. "I celebrate that justice has acted with common sense and humanity," reacted the head of the Catalan executive this Monday, after learning that he was finally not made to testify. The Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, had also censured him being forced to travel, as the same medical examination could have been done from Catalonia.

The entire political spectrum, in fact, has spoken out on the events. The president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, has branded the court's decision to make him go to Madrid, knowing what the doctors had already said, as "unworthy": "It is the chronicle of a mockery, a dehumanizing demonstration of a long, cold, and calculated will to humiliate everything it symbolizes," he said. Esquerra has also been critical: its spokesperson, Isaac Albert, called it "inhumane and inadmissible": "The court was looking for a photo that neither President Pujol nor the country deserve." Meanwhile, from the CUP and Comuns, they have been more ambivalent: the CUP members have rejected the journey, but have rejected a "political absolution" for the former president; while Aina Vidal has called for "knowing what happened."

No image of the former president

Former President Pujol arrived at the headquarters of the National Court in San Fernando de Henares a few minutes past 9 a.m. He did so in a car with tinted windows and entered through the parking lot, so he was not seen entering the court building. In fact, in his last public appearances, he had been seen to move with great difficulty. But not only was he not seen upon arrival, but he also did not appear in the judicial premises where the rest of the accused, lawyers, and journalists were waiting. The Court kept him away from the public eye at all times.

How was the procedure? After arriving, Pujol was examined behind closed doors by a forensic doctor, who checked him both physically and mentally. In this regard, there were no surprises: the doctor determined that he was not capable of testifying and defending himself. At one point, according to family sources, he could not even remember the name of one of his children. "He was having a lucid day, despite that," his inner circle points out, as he was able to have a coffee before entering the examination and always showed himself willing to testify and defend his innocence. In fact, his personal doctor, Jaume Padrós, stated the following in a recent interview in ARA about this willingness: "He has always said that he wants to defend his innocence [...], but we others have the obligation to protect him because one of the characteristics of advanced cognitive disorders is anosognosia, which is the inability to assess the extent of your deficits and how far your difficulties go. He is not aware of these deficits," he stated.

With the National Court's decision, Jordi Pujol's record is now subject to political interpretation. Without a conviction or a declaration of innocence, his legacy will depend on how history explains his key role in understanding contemporary Catalonia, but it will always coexist with a darker side. A darker side that, in his case, cannot be clarified by the time chosen by the Spanish justice system: more than fourteen years until he sat on the defendant's bench.