First day of Francisco Camps case spent choosing the jury

Nine people have now been chosen and the case proper starts on Tuesday.

Eight hours of questions were needed on Monday to choose the members of the jury in the court case against Francisco Camps and Ricardo Costa regarding gifts of suits and other items in the Gürtel case.

The personal interviews of all the potential jury members lasted for hours and have delayed the start of the case proper. They were asked questions such as 'What do you think about abortion', or 'What do you think about gay marriage?'.

It all means the photo of Camps on the accused bench will now be taken on Tuesday, as the popular jury of nine members of the public decide over the next ten days if he and his right hand man, Ricardo Costa are guilty or not.

More than 100 witnesses will be called in the case, including Francisco Correa and El Bigotes, two businessmen at the centre of the Gürtel network of companies.

Francisco Camps' replacement as President of the Valencia Government, Alberto Fabra, has said that he hopes Camps will be found not guilty because 'he is a friend and party colleague'. He also said any return to politics for Camps was his personal decision.