| Doesn't matter, they won't serve more than ten years each ... |
A total of 21 out of 28 people on trial were found guilty of involvement in the 11 March 2004 bombings. "Today, justice has been done," said Spain's prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, commenting the sentences.
Seven of the 28 defendants were acquitted, including the main suspect and alleged bombing mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, also known as "Mohammed the Egyptian". Ahmed was extradited to Spain from Italy in 2004 and has been sentenced by an Italian court to eight years in jail for links to Muslim militant groups in Europe.
Jamal Zougam, one of the leaders of the Islamist cell who was accused of planting the bombs, was sentenced to 30 years for each of the 191 victims and 20 years for each of the injured, and 12 years for belonging to a terrorist cell. Under Spanish law, he can only serve a maximum of 40 years in prison.
Spaniard Emilio Suarez Trashorras, who was found guilty of supplying the bombers with dynamite, also received a sentence of over 35,000 years in jail.
Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez ruled out the Basque separatist group ETA's involvement in the deadly bombings. The attacks caused a political earthquake in Spanish politics as voters resoundingly rejected a conservative Spanish government in parliamentary polls that took place three days after the bombings.
Shortly after its election to office, Zapatero's new Socialist government pulled out Spain's troops from Iraq. The ruling centre-right Partido Popular (PP) had wrongly blamed the Islamist attack on ETA, despite mounting evidence that Islamists were responsible.
Rafa Zouhier, a Moroccan national was sentenced to 10 years in jail for putting the bombers in touch with Trashorras to obtain the explosives used in the attack. Another Moroccan national, Otman el-Ganoui, also convicted of playing a role in obtaining explosives for the attack, was sentenced to 30 years for each of the 191 victims and 20 years for each of the injured. He also got a 12 year sentence for belonging to a terrorist cell.
Spaniards Carmen Toro, Antonio Toro, Emilio Llano, Javier Gonzalez Diaz, Ivan Granados and the Moussaten brothers were acquitted of all charges. Of the nine Spanish suspects, one woman was charged and convicted with supplying stolen dynamite used in the attacks.
The judge announced compensation for victims of the attacks ranging from 30 thousand euros per victim to 1.5 million euros.The victims were divided by 'groups' depending on the severity of their injuries. The jury reached their verdicts with "total unanimity," Bermudez said. All the suspects pleaded innocent and those found guilty are expected to appeal against their sentences. The verdict had been scheduled for 11:00 am, but was delayed due to protests by victims of the bombings, who wanted to be present in the courtroom. A total 25 journalists were removed from the public gallery in order to fit in 25 victims of the attacks in the courtroom.