Enlarge imageBy Ben Harding
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge on Tuesday charged 29 people for their roles in the deadly 2004 Madrid train bombings, paving the way for one of Europe’s biggest terrorism trials.
After a two-year investigation, Judge Juan Del Olmo concluded that the March 11 attacks, which killed 191 people and injured about 2,000 others, were carried out by a local Islamist cell inspired by, but not directed by, al Qaeda.
Del Olmo charged five people with 191 counts of terrorist killings and 1,755 attempted murders, while another 23 people were charged with collaboration. Each count of terrorist murder could carry a sentence of up to 30 years.
Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a former miner who provided the bombers with plastic explosives, was charged with 192 murders, including the death of a policeman killed during a raid on suspected bombers a few weeks after the attacks.
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In the raid, another seven top suspects blew themselves up in a Madrid apartment block, while another fled Spain and died fighting in Iraq.
In comments on the 1,471-page report, a court spokeswoman said the Islamist cell had been inspired by an Islamic essay published on the Internet.
"It took its inspiration from a Web site that called on local Islamists to stage attacks in Spain before the 2004 general elections to prompt withdrawal of troops from Iraq," she said.
In the immediate aftermath of the bombs, which were packed into sports bags and detonated by mobile phones, the then-ruling conservative party, the Partido Popular (PP), blamed the attacks on the Basque separatist group ETA.
As mounting evidence indicated the attacks were the work of militant Islamists, Spanish voters turned against the PP and the country voted in the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in general elections three days after the bombs.
Zapatero quickly pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq, as he had promised in the run-up to the vote.
The court spokeswoman said there was no connection between the bombings and ETA, which has since been weakened by the revulsion sparked by the March 11 attacks and last month called a truce.
Given the complexity of the case, the March 11 trial may not start until early next year and is then likely to take almost a year. Under Spanish law, none of the suspects will have to spend more than 40 years in prison.
Spain has led the charge in trying suspected militants.
Last year, a court convicted 18 people, accused mostly of belonging to or cooperating with al Qaeda, although the top three defendants were found not guilty of killing nearly 3,000 people in the September 11 attacks in the United States.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Hay)
