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Court sets Madrid bomb trial date

From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- The trial of suspects in the Madrid train bombing case will start February 15, the National Court said Tuesday, nearly three years after terrorists killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 others in coordinated bombings of morning rush-hour commuter trains in the Spanish capital.

A total of 29 defendants face charges, including seven considered prime defendants who each face about 38,000 years in prison for mass murder, if convicted, according to a prosecution order issued last November. The rest face lesser charges.

All 29 were indicted last April. All 29 defendants have said they are innocent, a court official said.

Authorities blame Islamic terrorists for the attack, although nine of the 29 defendants are Spaniards accused of trafficking in explosives that ended up in the hands of the Islamic suspects.

The blasts on March 11, 2004 were the deadliest terrorist attack in Western Europe since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people.

Under tight security, a three-judge panel of the National Court will hear the case starting February 15 in a special courthouse on the western outskirts of Madrid.

The trial, with hundreds of witnesses, is expected to last until the summer and a verdict could come by autumn.

Of the fatalities, 142 were from Spain and 49 were from 16 other nations, including immigrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe, a prosecution document said.

The injured came from Spain and 33 other nations, according to the March 11 Victims Association group, which represents more than 900 people wounded or survivors of the deceased.

Many Spaniards believe the attacks were a consequence of then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria 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 Bush.

Just 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.

Prosecutors seek the longest prison terms -- about 38,000 years each -- for six suspected Islamic terrorists, as well as a seventh man, born in Spain, who is accused of providing the others with explosives used in the attacks.

The long prison terms being sought were calculated based on the murder charges against the seven prime defendants for each of the 191 people who died in the attacks and for the attempted murders of the 1,824 others who were wounded, said the prosecution order that was issued last November.

But even if convicted on all charges, the defendants would serve a maximum of 40 years in prison, according to Spanish law, which prohibits the death penalty, the prosecution said.

The other 22 defendants are mainly suspected Islamic terrorists but also included various Spaniards alleged to have been involved in explosives trafficking. They would face prison terms of 30 to 40 years each, if convicted for supporting roles in the attacks, a prosecution source told CNN.

The seven prime defendants include three men thought to be among the ideologues of the attacks. Prosecutors identified them as Youssef Belhadj, 30, and Hassan el Haski, 43, both of Morocco, and Rabei Osman El Sayed Ahmed, 35, of Egypt.

Three other defendants are suspected of putting some of the bombs on the four trains that were torn apart by the explosions. They were identified as Jamal Zougam, 33, and Abdelmajid Bouchar, 24, both of Morocco, and Basel Ghalyoun, 26, of Syria.

The seventh prime defendant is Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, 30, of Spain, considered a "necessary cooperator" in the attacks by allegedly facilitating the explosives that were manufactured in Spain and stolen from a mine in the north.

Seven other key suspects in the bombings blew themselves up three weeks after the attacks in 2004 as police closed in on their hideout in a Madrid suburb. The seven dead suspects also were thought to have placed bombs aboard the trains, the prosecution order said.

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