Presiding judge Manuel Marchena has set out the timetable for the last stages of the Catalan independence trial. After four months, the plan is for the trial to come to an end on Tuesday 11th June, although the judge is saving the 12th in case it should prove necessary.
After the final experts testify this week, the viewing of photographic and video evidence will start next week. Then, in June, it will be the turn of the final conclusions and defendants' statements before the judges suspend the case as they deliberate their verdict.
Evidence
Three days are scheduled next week, Monday to Wednesday, for the displaying of images, with Thursday kept in reserve as an option if it takes longer than expected. The court has accepted some 100 videos requested by prosecutors; some of them coincide with those asked for by the defence. The evidence phase also includes photographs.
The images will be displayed without counsel being able to comment on them in comparison to the testimony heard by the court, in terms of who it might support or disagree with. This comes after the ban during the witness phase on showing video or photos, even of events the witnesses in question were discussing. Nor are they being allowed to show edited videos, which means no television reports involving summaries have been accepted as evidence. Similarly, no videos with voice over, or containing interviews or evaluations will be shown to the court.
Conclusions
The lawyers in the case will present their final conclusions from 3rd June, starting with the prosecution parties. Marchena hopes to get through them all in a single day. To manage this, he's limited the time for their conclusions to a maximum of two hours each for the different teams.
The defences will start their turn on 10th June, again, having two hours each maximum. The plan is that they will finish on the 11th. Then, the prisoners themselves will have a final turn to speak. This is expected to happen on the 11th, but could fall back to the 12th if the defences use up all the time available to them. The judge has limited the prisoners' time to 15 minutes each.