The trial of 29 suspects in the 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks
began yesterday under tight security, with survivors and mourners
getting their first close-up look at the defendants accused of a
massacre that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
The first defendant to take the stand, Egyptian Rabei Osman,
refused to answer any questions even from his own lawyer and said
he did not recognize the charges against him.
"Your honor, with all due respect, I do not acknowledge any
accusations or charges," Osman said calmly. "I am not going to
answer any questions, including from my defense attorney."
When Osman tried to explain his reasons, a judge cut him off and
ordered the prosecutor to pose the questions she had planned.
Osman, who was arrested in Italy and later convicted of
terrorism, allegedly bragged in intercepted phone calls that the
Madrid train bombings were his idea, and is charged as an alleged
ringleader.
The bombings were the worst-ever attack linked to Islamic
militants in Europe, and the trial has dredged up painful memories
of what Spaniards call the nation's most traumatic event since the
1930s civil war.
Images of body bags and twisted train cars were played and
replayed on Spanish television yesterday, a grim reminder of the
devastation left by 10 backpack bombs that exploded on four
commuter trains during the morning rush hour.
Eighteen of the suspects watched the proceedings from a
bulletproof chamber, packed together on wooden benches, while the
other 11, who are out on bail, sat in the main section of the
courtroom.
Many of the suspects in the bulletproof chamber averted their
glance from victims' relatives sitting in the small, heavily
guarded courtroom, and some even turned their backs to them.
Conchi Decos, who lost her husband in the attacks and was in the
courtroom yesterday, said her heart dropped when the suspects filed
in.
"You want to insult them, to say what you think. But instead we
just said it quietly to ourselves," she said during a break in the
proceedings.
Pilar Manjon, president of an association of March 11 victims,
who lost her 20-year-old son in the attacks, said she stood up to
get a better view when the defendants came in. "They lowered their
heads," she said.
Seven lead defendants face possible prison terms of 30 years for
each of the killings and 18 years apiece for 1,820 attempted
murders. But under Spanish law, the maximum time anyone can serve
for a terrorist conviction is 40 years.
Security was extremely tight for the trial, with police on
horseback patrolling outside the court on the city outskirts, and
bomb-sniffing dogs searching for explosives.
Testimony is expected to last more than five months, and a
verdict is expected in late October.
The trial marks the culmination of a lengthy investigation,
which concluded that the attacks were carried out by a home-grown
cell of Muslim extremists angry over the then-conservative Spanish
government's support for the Iraq War and its troop presence in
Afghanistan.
That government initially blamed Basque separatists, and
continued to do so even as evidence emerged of Islamic radical
involvement. This led to charges of a cover up, and in elections
three days after the attack, the Socialists were voted into
power.
They quickly brought Spain's troops home from Iraq.
(China Daily February 16, 2007)
