Besieger or victim: the trial begins for the lawsuit filed by Eduard Pujol
The Junts senator claims it was his "civil death," while the woman says she feels "despised."
BarcelonaMembers of the Junts per Catalunya leadership paraded through the City of Justice this Wednesday. The meeting was directly related to a case that rocked the party five years ago: the party suspended its member of parliament, Eduard Pujol, from membership following two alleged cases of sexual harassment. Neither of the two women filed a formal complaint, and Pujol responded by accusing them. Months later, the party reinstated him, and Pujol is now a senator for Junts. Meanwhile, one of his accusers, a city councilor for the party, He apologized to her. And the legal case went no further. The case of the second complainant has gone to trial, and it began at the City of Justice. The woman is accused of slander and harassment, and this Wednesday she testified, along with Pujol himself and some prominent members of Junts, such as Albert Batet and Jordi Sànchez.
The accounts of the complainant and the accused coincided on the beginning of the chronology of events: they began talking in August 2018 through social media, although they already knew each other from Vilafranca del Penedès. The conversations led to in-person meetings, which in turn led to sexual relations. Pujol stated that the woman wanted "more encounters," that she was "very insistent," and wanted the relationship to go further. In turn, the accused said that he was "the insistent one," with "storms of messages," and that in the end he only wanted to meet for sex. She recounted feeling "despised" by the situation and finding herself in an "unequal" relationship. She also spoke of abuse of power. "He would come in, open the door, and we would have sex, whether I liked it or not," she explained. She also criticized the conversations, which Eduard Pujol has provided as evidence, as being purely sexual. Several messages related to this were read aloud.
In contrast, Pujol explained that the "suffocating insistence" came from the woman. From 2019 onward, the senator continued, his "hell, a tunnel of terror" began. He insisted that he tried to end the relationship more than once, but that at that point, what he denounces as harassment began: he accuses the woman of making several posts on social media, calling him a "rapist," among many other insults. He also explained that while these posts were being made, the woman threatened him privately. Specifically, he said that she warned him before the posts and blackmailed him. The defendant maintained that the posts were not hers. However, Pujol added that he tried unsuccessfully to mediate with her through a friend of hers, who also testified at the trial—and said she remembered little—and a friend of his. The defendant's lawyer asked him why the sexually explicit messages didn't disappear during this period, and Pujol suggested it was a way of trying to resolve the situation.
The internal process
As the months passed, the accused explained that she received a message from the councilwoman who had also reported Pujol for harassment—at that time, she hadn't yet done so. The councilwoman recommended that she meet with Aurora Madaula, then a member of parliament for Junts, to discuss Eduard Pujol's behavior. The councilwoman who filed the complaint was also present at the meeting and has confirmed the encounter in court. The accused stated that she had a meeting of just over five minutes with Madaula, explaining what had happened with Pujol. She said that at no point did she accuse him of any specific criminal conduct, but rather described how she felt constantly sexualized. After that, the woman heard nothing more. Pujol described the next scene: Albert Batet, parliamentary leader of Junts, He summoned him and recommended that he resign his seat as a deputy. After two cases of harassment came to light, Pujol declared, "It was my civil death," emphasizing that he was never given any official documentation regarding the allegations. Albert Batet admitted in court that Madaula informed him that these were very serious offenses. Madaula also sent a letter to Jordi Sánchez, then Secretary General of Junts, outlining the events, and Sánchez testified that it was at that moment that he made the decision to remove him. In this regard, Batet acknowledged that the party had no protocol in place to address the situation. The trial was expected to begin and end this Wednesday, but it has been delayed, and the lawyers' closing arguments will be presented in a new session on February 5th.
