24 April 2006

MADRID — The judge in charge of the inquiry into the Madrid train bombings travelled to Morocco to interrogate a suspect in the case.

Judge Juan del Olmo went to a jail in Salé, a city near the capital Rabat, to question Mimoun Belhadj.

Belhadj is the brother of one of the 29 men accused of the rush-hour bomb attacks in which 191 people died and more than 1,700 were injured in March 2004.

The unusual move was made with the cooperation of the Moroccan authorities.

Del Olmo, along with a number of Moroccan judges, interrogated Belhadj as part of an international tribunal.

Belhadj is currently serving two years in jail after being convicted of terrorist offences. He was extradited from Syria.

He is the brother of Youssef Belhadj, who was extradited from Belgium to face charges in Spain relating to the Madrid bomb attacks carried out by Islamic extremists.

Spanish police have been hunting both brothers, who are allegedly members of the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM), which was said to have been involved in the Madrid bombings.

They allegedly fled to Belgium after the attacks. 

Del Olmo is also due to travel to France to interrogate another suspect in the case.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news