Carles Puigdemont has appeared before a Spanish court for the first time since he left Catalonia in a case linked to the process. He has done so by videoconference and as a witness in the trial against the former Minister of the Interior, Miquel Buch and his former bodyguard, Lluís Escolà. The former president has made it clear that no policeman who has accompanied him over the years has done so “on official duties” and has acknowledged that Escolà, whom he has defined as a good friend, accompanied him but never acted as an escort. “He is a patriot and that is why he is in this trial. For having done a service to the country and for no other reason. I have seen him suffer a lot. I have seen him sacrifice his private life to be able to accompany me at a time when the Spanish authorities neglected their duty to guarantee my protection”, he stated.
In the trial, it is debated whether the former Minister of the Interior committed a crime of embezzlement of public funds and prevarication by hiring Puigdemont’s bodyguard with a salary as an adviser in the department so that he would continue to ensure the safety of the former president in Belgium after the authorities Spanish authorities denied him this prerogative that corresponded to him as former president once he was prosecuted by the Supreme Court. After his signing, the escort traveled continuously to Waterloo and allowed himself to be photographed together with the former president. However, the discussion is whether, since he lacks a badge, a pistol and an extendable baton, he can be considered to have been an escort. Puigdemont has qualified that the security teams “carry weapons, bulletproof vests with permission from the Spanish authorities and this has never happened.” In addition, he has denied that he ordered Minister Buch to incorporate Escolà as an advisor.
The prosecutor’s indictment recalls that Escolà was one of the mossos who helped Puigdemont leave Spain in October 2017 “in a clandestine operation.” Both Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, has tried to get the ex-president to clarify the matter and the prosecutor Pedro Ariche has also done so. “When I left there was no court order against me,” Puigdemont specified. The president of the room, José Carlos Iglesias, has intercepted any attempt to elaborate on this issue. “He has already said that he did not request Escolà’s help and that he accompanied him as a friend and that there was no court order against him for not leaving the national territory”, he specified. He then intervened again, indicating that Puigdemont “says that he has not been given escort functions outside of Spain and it is unnecessary to elaborate on questions that have already been answered. He knew many patriotic people who are friends of his and who were with him. He has made it very clear ”, he stated.
The prosecutor, during his interrogation, asked him about a reference that appears in the book ‘I explain myself’ written by Xevi Xirgo in which he alludes to the fact that various mossos d’esquadra provide unofficial escort service to Puigdemont in Belgium. He has responded that it was “a journalistic license” in reference to the people who accompanied him and has denied that they were escorts because they did not carry equipment or weapons.
The expresident’s statement had to be delayed after a French translator had not appeared for reasons beyond the control of the Barcelona Court. Puigdemont has appeared in a courtroom accompanied by two Belgian court secretaries who have requested the presence of the translator in the Barcelona courtroom to comply with the Belgian procedure. The room has given the order for an interpreter to be found who has finally come an hour later and in this way the trial has been resumed. The prosecutor has avoided addressing Puigdemont directly and has used the translator to ask him the questions herself. “Ask him what…” has been the formula used.
