Madrid bombing suspect released on bail for verdict 04/09/2007 00:00

4 September 2007

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ Judges overseeing the trial in the Madrid terror bombings of 2004 ordered one of the suspects released from jail Tuesday while he awaits a verdict.

The suspect, Mahmoud Slimane Aoun, from Lebanon, will have to report to a courthouse twice a month, the three-judge National Court panel said in a ruling. It gave no explanation for its decision.

Prosecutors have requested a 13-year jail term for Slimane Aoun, accusing him of helping one of the alleged ringleaders of the attack forge documents and saying this amounts to collaborating with a terrorist group.

A total of 28 people stood trial over the string of 10 bombs that exploded on Madrid commuter trains on March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and wounding 1,800.

The five-month trial ended in July and a verdict is expected in October.

The attacks were claimed by Muslim militants who said they acted on behalf of al-Qaida in revenge for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq, although Spanish investigators say there is no evidence al-Qaida ordered the bombings or financed them.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news