Mixed Verdicts in Madrid Train Bombings
A Spanish court has convicted 21 people in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people. Seven others, including an alleged mastermind, were acquitted.
Spain’s National Court sentenced three of the defendants to prison terms amounting to tens of thousands of years, the New York Times reports. Many of the sentences for 18 others convicted of lesser charges were lighter than requested by prosecutors.
Rabei Osman, one of the accused masterminds of the attack, was acquitted. Translators had differed over the interpretation of taped remarks he made in which prosecutors claimed he boasted of his role in the bombings. Osman is currently serving a sentence for belonging to a terrorist group. Several other men thought to be masterminds blew themselves up before police could arrest them.
Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez said there was no evidence of involvement by the Spanish separatist group Eta, the BBC reports. The accused men were said to be inspired by al-Qaida.
The long prison terms were largely symbolic, since Spanish law imposes a maximum prison term of 40 years.
