March 11th Trial.

international | crime and justice | other press

Thursday February 15, 2007 16:09

by iosaf

This morning the trial of 29 people accused of playing a part in the bombing of commuter trains in Madrid on the 11th of the 3rd month 2004 began.
-198 people died.
-6 of whom were terrorists and 192 completely innocent people of whom more than one quarter were migrants.
-The trains carried normal workers to their jobs and menial workers returning from cleaning work in offices.
-1,755 people were injured seriously 1,900 suffered some type of injury.

Dublin 12/3/04 the Spanish Government & embassies still denied the authorship of the worst terrorist atrocity in recent European history.

-Within 4 days the Spanish celebrated a general election and the government of the day under Jose Maria Aznar deliberately mis-informed the public and friendly governments of the EU till the morning of the 14th of March & the elections which they lost. This occured against the backdrop of a society completely divided, demonstrations, conspiracy theories, revenge murders of 2 citizens. Division which have not healed 4 years later.
- Within 6 months 30% of the population of the city of Madrid had sought psyhcological counselling for trauma and depression related to the event.
- Within one month the main suspects had blown themselves up in a house in the suburbs of Madrid.
Today the remaining suspects who have been brought to Madrid from a variety of other states face trial of charges of murder and attempted murder.

coverage & background in english are available here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6363149.stm
http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_34901/politics/MARCH-1...rial/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/15/europe/EU-GEN...s.php
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,466555,00.html

the atrocity divided a democratic society in two. Those divisions never healed. Every step of the way to this trial has seen more division. the spokesperson of the victims of M11, trade union activist Pilar Majon whose son died that morning accused the initial tribunal of only "discussing themselves" and not the victims. She had to leave Madrid after continuing death threats.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/67956

This article on wikipedia has been subject to as many neutrality debates as any on September 11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_bombings

The first suspect, thought to the "ideologue" was arrested in Italy in mid 2004. He has refused to enter a plea. This trial will most probably be non-conclusive. But it is worth noting that Spain is the only state which has brought cases for any of the Al Qaeda related atrocities in the West. If anything exceptionally noteworthy occurs - I'll update in the comments. Meanwhile as I wrote at the first tribunal "rest in peace now". http://www.indymedia.ie/article/67956 Simply because I was one of those few thousands who blockaded offices of the government & one of those even fewer who got hit on the head by someone who preferred conspiracy theories to the truth & still have a little white scar on my forehead for the trouble.

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Comments (4 of 4)

Rabei Osman El Sayed "the Egyptian" has had a statement read out.

by -

Thu Feb 15, 2007 19:32

In a farcical situation he is not directly answering questions from the court, but only talking to his lawyer whilst everyone can hear him.

He has denied involvement in M11 & condemned 911, 3/11 & 7/7 because Islam is a religion of peace and he is a good muslim. He has thus condemned "all the elevens".
You may read of the Egyptian's arrest in Milan 2004 at this comment of June 11th at 11h11
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/65406?&condense_comment...77985 to the article "Utopia - Security & Europe".
He reminded the court that he has been voluntarily through every test modern penology can count on & can not be linked to the attack. But..... he is not being put to trial as a physical participant rather an "intellectual author". Intercepts of telephone conversations in which he said "M11 was my idea" have been played to the court & meticulous data on the role he played in recruiting mujahideen to fight in Iraq and that he also attempted but failed to phone one of the mobiles of a M11 suspect who suicide bombed himself and his flat in Leganes (Madrid) when the police surrounded it April 4th 2004.
http://www.lavanguardia.es/gen/20070215/51308362071/not....html

I honestly do not believe any more is neccesary. Unless someone wants to suggest at this late stage that the authorship of the 11th of March attack belongs to a covert Western security forces organisation or agents thereof :: we may now assume it is done and dusted to the point of polished that :-
M11 was the work of groups in the ambit of Al Qaeda in north Africa and linked cells in Europe. M11 had as motive a direct link to the illegal declaration of war on Iraq by the USA acting in concert with the states of the UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Morocco, Bulgaria & all the others who undermined the legitimate organs & instruments of international arbitration - the UN, her inspectorates & international law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_in_Iraq
In an attempt to stop which, we the people took in our masses to the streets of our cities to 4 years ago, 15th February.

.:. In other words, the words of Seneca the Latin classical poet - a crime hides [& builds] upon a crime.
the complete line being "regeramus ipsi crimen atque ultro impiam Venerem arguamus: scelere velandum est scelus"
We were governed & still suffer the government of criminals. We the ordinary people of Europe and Iraq died for their lies.

There are many people who aren't in the dock. But they are guilty.

Pilar Manjon :- "many guilt are not in the dock including the politically responsible"

Fri Feb 16, 2007 20:33

Pilar Manjón:“En el banquillo falta mucha gente, incluso quien tomó decisiones políticas”

She has given an interview to the internet readers of El Pais on the El Pais site which has gone up today. She has also said she is sure the murderers of her son are among the 29 accused. Her dignity & how she has carried the dignity of those she formally represents the victims of just one day - means this an udpate that postpones a comment. I'm not going to write about the revindication of international law in Europe through either this Madrid trial or Italy's decision to summons CIA personel nor even macrotrials or jurisprudence just yet, there's been too many politicians & media including the staff of El Pais etc. explaining what march 11th meant last 24hours. El Pais was one of a few commercial media outlets who played an important role in the final 48 hours of that long weekend. Which would have been impossible except for its staff as for its owner.
Pilar Manjon speaks for too many people. "tiene la palabra" She has the floor & I'm listening & paying attention like an awful lot of others.
The interview faintly touches the deletion of computer files in the prime minister of Spain's offices & politicisation of victims noting the independence of her group, and that these accused are before a court of law not the gallows. None of the accused have looked her in the eye. & though not doubting the authorship of the attack notes that one side of the inquiry "rotted away". On the relationship of the M11 victims to the political establishment she says they struggle for a seat whereas the victims struggle to come to terms with loss. The families of many of the victims relied on the money that came from the jobs that put those workers on those trains.

Pilar Manjon tiene la palabra -
article : http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Pilar/Manjon/banq...8/Tes
interview 4 page transcript - http://www.elpais.com/edigitales/entrevista.html?encuen...=2584
you see in the photo at the link her arrival & one of the guards assigned her.

links dont work go here - text in castellano see comment above. Interview with Pilar Manjon

Fri Feb 16, 2007 20:39

president of the March 11th association.
article
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Pilar/Manjon/banq...8/Tes
interview http://www.elpais.com/edigitales/entrevista.html?encuen...=2584
http://www.elpais.com/edigitales/entrevista.html?encuen...ase=5
http://www.elpais.com/edigitales/entrevista.html?encuen...se=10
http://www.elpais.com/edigitales/entrevista.html?encuen...se=15

Sentances are passed & so the trial finishes......"May the victims rest in peace"

Wed Oct 31, 2007 14:59

coverage in English
"..........Three of the eight main suspects - Emilio Trashorras, a Spaniard, and Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui, both Moroccans - received sentences of nearly 40,000 years each. Under Spanish law, however, they can only serve a maximum of 40 years. Four other lead defendants - Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Abdulmajid Bouchar and Rafa Zouhier - were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges including belonging to a terrorist group or trafficking in weapons. Fourteen other people were found guilty of lesser charges such as belonging to a terrorist group. Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez, who ruled out the participation of the Basque separatist group Eta in the bombings, spent more than an hour summing up the case before delivering verdicts on each of the accused. He also announced compensation for victims ranging from 30,000 euros (£21,000) to 1.5m euros.........."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2202357,00.html

....."Spanish investigators say the accused were part of a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda, but had no direct links to the terror organisation. They had acted to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, said investigators........"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7070827.stm
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1031/madrid.html

( as I put it above - "M11 was the work of groups in the ambit of Al Qaeda in north Africa and linked cells in Europe. M11 had as motive a direct link to the illegal declaration of war on Iraq by the USA acting in concert with the states of the UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Morocco, Bulgaria & all the others who undermined the legitimate organs & instruments of international arbitration - the UN, her inspectorates & international law" .........Strange to think I am so in agreement with a Spanish court.)

coverage in Spanish
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/tribunal/culpa/ce...7/Tes

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Comments (4 of 4)