MORE A NIBBLE THAN A TASTE:

Mixed verdict in Madrid train bombings trial unsettles Spain (Victoria Burnett, October 31, 2007, IHT)

The National Court on Wednesday handed down sentences that stretched to tens of thousands of years to three men for killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800 in the bombing of Madrid commuter trains on March 11, 2004.

But the court acquitted four of the top suspects of murder and did not convict any of the three alleged masterminds of direct involvement in the terror attacks, the worst by Islamic radicals on European soil.

The court acquitted 7 suspects and found 18 guilty of lesser charges related to the attacks, such as belonging to a terrorist organization. Sentences ranged from three to 43,000 years - although under Spanish law the most time they can spend in jail is 40 years. One defendant was released during the trial for lack of evidence.

The verdict closed a vast, complex trial that over five months brought 29 defendants, nearly 50 lawyers and 350 witnesses to a temporary courtroom on the outskirts of Madrid.

It offered the first taste of justice to those wounded in the attacks and to the relatives of those killed when 13 sports bags stuffed with explosives and nails tore through trains carrying thousands of people to the center of the city.

Spaniards declared themselves unserious about the threat when they voted out the Aznar government after the bombing--the courts just follow the election returns.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 1, 2007 2:16 PM