Former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy will be summonsed to testify during the upcoming trial of twelve pro-independence leaders at the Supreme Court if, as expected, defence counsel so ask in their filings to request evidence be entered into consideration.
Legal sources have reported that former deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and former treasury minister Cristóbal Montoro are also expected to be called on in the oral hearings.
The court plans to grant such a request not only to maximise the trial's legal guarantees, but also as "necessary evidence", given the roles the three played in the events of 2017.
It's for this reason that the court believes that, if the defence so asks, there are sufficient reasons to summons them to testify. They all already appear in the narratives given by prosecutors, the state's legal services and far-right party Vox in their indictments.
A thousand witnesses
And although the number of witnesses requested could hit a thousand, the court counts on this reducing as the trial develops, as the different sides decide particular individuals are unnecessary, either due to legal strategy or to avoid repetition.
We'll have to wait until the 14th, the deadline for the defence to file their requests, to find out exactly who they propose to call on.
Once they've made their filing, the court will have to rule on the requests and set the date for the start of the hearings which sources say is expected the last week of January or the first of February.