Madrid train bombing trial to start in February

MADRID, Sep 19 (Reuters) The trial of 29 people accused over the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people, is expected to get under way in February 2007, a court source said today.

The 29 were charged in April with murder and other crimes related to the four bombs which were placed in commuter trains on March 11, just days before a general election which saw the defeat of the conservative government.

The trial is expected to be one of Europe's biggest terrorism trials. The defendants are mostly Spanish or Moroccan.

A senior judicial source told reporters at a briefing that the trial should end by July next year with the verdict handed down in October.

Investigating judge Judge Juan Del Olmo's report into the case, published in April, detailed evidence against the group ranging from its finances to telephone transcripts and also concluded that the bombers, who also injured 2,000 people, were not directed by al Qaeda.

Five people are charged with 191 counts of terrorist killings and 1,755 attempted murders, while 23 others were charged with several forms of collaboration like falsification of documents and membership of a terrorist group.

Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a former miner accused of providing the plastic explosives which ripped open train carriages and tore limbs off victims, was charged with 192 murders, including the death of a policeman killed during a raid on suspected bombers a few weeks after the attacks.

During the raid, seven top suspects blew themselves up in an apartment block.

The latest estimate for how long the trial might last contrasts with earlier theories that it would take up to a year. Judicial authorities are doing everything they can to speed up the process, the source said.

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