Madrid bombing verdicts keenly awaited

By Danny Wood
BBC News, Madrid

The bomb attacks sent shockwaves through Europe

Spain is keenly awaiting the verdicts on 28 men charged over the devastating 2004 Madrid train bombings.

The death and destruction caused by those bombings was unprecedented in modern Spain. Explosions hit four packed commuter trains on 11 March 2004, killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,500.

It was the worst terror attack in Europe since a Pan Am airliner was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.

The victims continue to struggle with the consequences and some Spaniards are still very uncertain about what really happened. The verdicts are expected on Wednesday.

Quest for justice

Twenty-two-year-old Antonio Utrera, a university student, was on one of the trains and suffered terrible injuries that left half his body paralysed.

It's not going to give life back to those who died, but at least I hope it's going to provide some form of justice Antonio Utrera, bomb victim Madrid bombings: Defendants

After the blast "the scene on those train tracks was like a dance of sleepwalkers," he recalls.

"People didn't look interested, they seemed absent, lost, because of the impact. It was a very strange and uncomfortable sensation... more than anything else it was like a war scene."

For Antonio, this verdict - after a six-month trial - is important because it will give victims like him some justice.

"After all that's happened, this is not going to be able to bring back my 18th year," he says.

"It's not going to give life back to those who died, but at least I hope it's going to provide some form of justice and condemn those responsible."

It has been one of the biggest legal cases in Spanish history.

Top suspects dead

Most of the suspects are Moroccans, but there are some Spaniards accused of providing the explosives. All pleaded innocent. The charges include multiple counts of murder and membership of a terrorist organisation.

Seven top suspects died in a suicide bomb blast, officials say

If convicted, many of the men face life sentences.

The trial went ahead without seven important suspects. They died in a suicide bomb blast in the Madrid suburb of Leganes a month after the train bombings.

But public prosecutor Olga Sanchez says the verdict will clarify what happened on 11 March 2004.

She is confident the judgement will show that the bombings were carried out by a local group of Islamic militants inspired by al-Qaeda.

"I don't think this trial is only important for Spain, I think it could be a reference point for the world," she says.

"The people who committed such horrible acts will know that justice is in many cases slow, but when the machinery of justice gets into motion it's inevitable that it reaches a conclusion - sentences for the people responsible."

In the days after the bombing, the authorities found evidence that they say links some of the men directly to the attacks.

That evidence includes a stolen van containing detonators and an Arabic language tape and mobile phone found in a bag of explosives which failed to go off.

Controversial evidence

But much of the evidence used in court consists of alleged meetings and conversations.

Rabei Osman's lawyer says the prosecution's evidence is faulty

Mrs Sanchez says the case against Rabei Osman, known as "The Egyptian", was based on monitoring of telephone calls and police observation by the Italian authorities, with judicial approval. He is thought to have organised the other participants.

The defence argued that such evidence was insufficient proof of guilt.

They spoke of errors in translations of the Arabic phone conversations where Rabei Osman allegedly said the train bombings were his idea.

But lawyers on both sides have confidence in the trial process and the ability of the panel of three judges to deliver a fair verdict.

There was some drama when, as a protest, more than half of the suspects went on a hunger strike.

But the presiding judge refused to delay proceedings and after discussions with their lawyers, the suspects abandoned their protest.

Political impact

The political upset caused by the bombings is fading, but slowly.

The authorities' response to the attacks and the way Spaniards linked them to the then government's support of the invasion of Iraq are thought to have lost the conservative Popular Party the election three days later.

Now in opposition, the conservatives have heavily criticised the investigation and say the verdict will only partly explain what happened.

Many Spaniards still have serious doubts about who was behind the attacks.

Some theories - supported by a number of victims - include the possibility that the bombings were part of a deliberate coup d'etat involving Spain's secret services.

And, without any evidence, the theory that the armed Basque separatist group Eta was involved lingers on. The previous government had blamed Eta immediately after the bombings.

"Well I've still got no idea who did it," says Eloy Moran, a 59-year-old injured in the bombings. "Why on the trains? Why three days before general elections? I still don't know."

But many Spaniards are confident that the verdict will clear up doubts and regard it as a key step towards recovery.