Enlarge imageBy Ben Harding
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge on Tuesday ordered 29 people to stand trial for their part in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, paving the way for one of Europe’s biggest terrorism trials.
The March 11 attacks by radical Islamists killed 191 people, injured about 2,000 others and were credited with changing the course of politics in Spain.
After a two-year investigation, Judge Juan Del Olmo charged five people with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 attempted murders. Another 23 were charged with collaboration.
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.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
A court spokeswoman said that the judge’s 1,500-page report concluded that the attacks were carried out by an independent local cell of Islamists that was inspired by, but not directed by, al Qaeda.
"It took its inspiration from a website 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, the then-ruling conservative party, the Partido Popular (PP), blamed the attacks on the Basque separatist group ETA, classed as terrorists by Washington and Brussels.
As ever more evidence indicated the attacks were the work of militant Islamists, Spain turned against the PP and in general elections three days after the bombs the country voted in the Socialist government which quickly pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq.
Seven other major suspects in the bombings died when they blew themselves up in a Madrid apartment block during a police raid, while another fled Spain and died fighting in Iraq.
Given the complexity of the case, the trial may not start until early next year and is then likely to take almost a year.
The court spokeswoman said there was no connection between the bombers and ETA.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Hay)
