The councilor of the Junts in Pineda de Mar (Barcelona) Noemí Llorens, who denounced the former parliamentarian and current senator of the party Eduard Pujol, admitted to having falsely accused him of harassment and asked for forgiveness from the politician, who accepted the apology.
As reported by El País and confirmed by this newspaper, Llorens submitted a letter to the court in which she apologizes to the senator and states that she felt “manipulated” by some leaders of Junts, which she does not specify, but according to the version of the councilor used her case to “harm the politician for political purposes.”
The case of Senator Junts, former director of RAC-1 and one of the independents who formed the lists of Puigdemont’s party in the December 2017 elections, has taken a judicial turn. From alleged accuser, he became the victim of insults and false accusations by two women. In November 2020 he was abruptly dismissed, and it was not until 2022 that he was dismissed due to the inconsistency of the complaints that the two women channeled within the party.
The mayor and Pujol had a romantic relationship and exchanged several WhatsApp messages “of an emotional and even erotic nature” until the former deputy decided to “distance himself” from the mayor in October 2019, according to the judge who left Llorens just a step away from trial for insulting the current senator.
Since Pujol recanted and accepted the apology, Llorens will not have to stand trial. The other woman whom Pujol reported for insults after accusing her of harassment will have to sit on the bench.
The counselor went to the Catalan Women’s Institute (ICD, for its acronym in Catalan) to denounce Pujol for sexual harassment. However, the agency did not respond to the woman’s complaint nor did it advise her to take the matter to court, as it did not give her credibility. Then the counselor went to the match.
The only name of Junts mentioned in the letter is that of Aurora Madaula, then head of feminisms within the party. “Madaula convinced me that this action by Pujol constituted a crime of harassment and encouraged me to report it to the party and the courts,” Llorens explains in his letter, although he never filed a formal complaint. “The situation upset me and, over time, I felt manipulated,” the letter adds.
In statements to RAC-1, the senator’s lawyer, Judit Gené, regretted the harm caused to Pujol by the false complaints and said that the pardon granted by the advisor is a step to repair it. “His name appeared in all the newspapers and on television, it had a terrible impact on his honor,” the lawyer said.
