A key stage of a high-profile trial is unfolding in Barcelona: next week Jordi Pujol, the former president of Catalonia, is required to appear in court in person. The court panel demands his condition be assessed by a forensic medical expert—only after that will a decision be made on whether the 95-year-old Pujol is fit to testify in the case concerning years-long concealment of family assets in Andorra.
The hearing is scheduled for Monday. By 9:30 a.m. Pujol must arrive to be examined by a specialist from the Forensic Medicine Clinic at the Audiencia Nacional. The doctor will remain in the courtroom throughout Pujol’s possible testimony. This decision was made after an independent evaluation previously pointed to serious health limitations—both physical and cognitive. In November, the court permitted him to follow proceedings remotely, but now, with an in-person interrogation at stake, the question of his participation is back for discussion.
Questioning the family and the role of experts
Before this, on Friday, the court will hear the experts’ reports. Next week, all members of the Pujol family involved in the case are expected to be questioned. If the medical board finds Jordi Pujol unfit to testify, his eldest son Jordi Pujol Ferrusola will be the first to answer the court’s questions. According to the prosecution, he bears primary responsibility and faces up to 29 years in prison on five counts.
Pujol himself, founder of Convergència Democràtica and former head of the Generalitat, remains the main figure in the case. The prosecution is seeking nine years in prison for him on charges of creating a criminal organization and money laundering. In previous sessions, Pujol has already briefly addressed the court via video call from his home, noting that his condition does not allow him to fully defend himself.
Context and public attention to the case
The Pujol trial has attracted attention not only in Catalonia, but throughout Spain. The question of whether elderly defendants can participate in court hearings is becoming increasingly relevant—similar debates have arisen in other high-profile cases, for example, when Argentina discussed the responsibility of doctors in the death of Diego Maradona. More details about that trial can be found in the article about the court proceedings around Maradona.
In Pujol’s case, the court’s decision regarding his ability to testify may affect the entire course of the process. If a medical assessment confirms his incapacity, the focus of the case will definitively shift to his children, especially Jordi Pujol Ferrusola. The hearings are taking place in San Fernando de Henares, where for several months details of schemes for transferring funds to Andorra and possible criminal connections have been under scrutiny.
