Madrid bomb trial ready to start

From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish court has ruled the investigative phase of the Madrid train bombings of 2004 has concluded, and the case is ready for trial against 29 defendants, although the court did not immediately set a trial date.

A three-judge panel at the National Court -- where the case is expected to be heard early next year -- said it had considered and rejected numerous pre-trial appeals and motions from lawyers representing the train bomb victims or the 29 defendants, according to a copy of the 11-page court order issued Tuesday and viewed by CNN.

Islamic terrorists are suspected in the March 11, 2004 coordinated bombings against four Madrid morning commuter trains that killed 191 people and wounded 1,755 others.

In the ruling Tuesday, the court rejected a motion from lawyers representing some of the victims to charge former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and two of his top aides in the train bombing case.

Those lawyers sought to bring charges against Aznar, who was prime minister when the attacks occurred, and his then-Interior Minister Angel Acebes, and then-Defense Minister, Federico Trillo.

But the court Tuesday said it would not extend the investigation of the bombings to take testimony from Aznar and his former aides.

Many Spaniards believe the attacks on Madrid's commuter trains were a consequence of Aznar's decision to send Spanish troops to Iraq in support of the U.S.-led coalition there.

Aznar has maintained that in doing so, he was just standing firm against international terrorism alongside a close ally, U.S. President George W. Bush.

Three days after the train bombings, Spaniards voted in previously-scheduled national elections, and ousted the conservatives.

Aznar was not running for a third term but his hand-picked conservative Popular Party successor lost to a Socialist, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who quickly withdrew Spain's troops from Iraq after becoming prime minister.

Five of the 29 defendants in the upcoming trial are charged with conspiracy in the deaths of the 191 victims and with the attempted murders of 1,755 people who were wounded.

While most of the 29 defendants are suspected Islamic terrorists, nine of the 29 are Spaniards accused of trafficking in explosives that ended up in the hands of the Islamic suspects for use in the attacks.

The 29 indictments were handed down last April 11 after a two-year investigation, and upheld by the court in a separate ruling last September 25.

The suspects include Jamal Zougam, a 32-year-old Moroccan, who is accused of being a ringleader of one of three groups that converged to carry out the attacks. He is accused of membership in a terrorist group as well as murder and attempted murder.

The blasts were the deadliest terrorist attack in Western Europe since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people.

While initial speculation fell on Basque separatists, the investigation into who was behind the Madrid train bombings has focused primarily on Islamic terrorists.

To date, only one person -- who was then 16-years-old -- has been convicted in the attacks. He was the only minor charged in the case. In November 2004 the Spanish youth pleaded guilty to transporting explosives stolen from a mine in northern Spain and of collaborating with a terrorist group.

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The Madrid train bombing killed 191 people and wounded 1,755 others.

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Madrid bomb trial ready to start

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