The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has ignored the request of the defense of Laura Borràs, in charge of the criminal Gonzalo Boye, to suspend the trial of the president of Junts for the alleged division of contracts when she directed the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (ILC), and will continue with the sessions scheduled for next week.
The president of the TSJC, Jesús María Barrientos, who is presiding over this trial, on the other hand, has accepted the request for the also suspended president of Parliament to testify at the last moment of the trial, after the other two defendants, Isaías, have done so. Herrero and Andreu Pujol, and that all the testimonial and documentary evidence has been carried out –on a date yet to be determined, but surely from February 27–. A situation that will serve to demonstrate the pact of the other defendants with the Prosecutor's Office and that will allow Borràs to testify knowing the evidence that is on the table to incriminate him.
On the other hand, the magistrates of the Catalan High Court will resolve next Monday, when the trial resumes, the previous questions related to fundamental rights and the chain of custody of the evidence obtained that the defenses raised at the hearing last Friday.
In this Tuesday's session, the second that has addressed previous issues, Boye's request for the former Minister of Culture of the Generalitat Lluís Puig to testify as a witness in the trial has been dismissed, and it has been decided that the agents of the Guard Civil will testify as witnesses without being able to identify them to preserve their identity, as requested by the Prosecutor's Office. Borràs's defense had opposed it, while that of Herrero and Pujol, led by Marina Roig and Àlex Solà, has not put any impediments on that point.
In addition, the agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra who appear as witnesses and carried out procedures related to obtaining the emails in the case may also be questioned in aspects related to technology as experts in this field.
Another of the matters that Boye had denounced, referring to some proceedings by the Prosecutor's Office that appear in the documentary evidence, has been rendered ineffective since this documentary evidence, considered "innocuous" by the lawyer himself, has been dismissed by the public prosecutor. considering that it is already included in other folders.
The Prosecutor's Office asks Borràs for a sentence of six years in prison, 21 years of disqualification from holding public office and a fine of 144,000 euros for the alleged continued crimes of prevarication and document falsification; and the provisional accusation – which can change at the end of the trial – claims for the beneficiary of the contracts, Herrero, six years in prison and three for Pujol, who allegedly helped him prepare the budgets and invoices that he presented to the ILC. The trial will clarify whether Borràs awarded 330,442.65 euros in 18 minor contracts, splitting them up to avoid having to bid for them and be able to award them to Herrero.
