Wife of Madrid bombing trial judge investigated

29 November 2007

Madrid – Spain’s judicial watchdog announced on Wednesday that it is opening an investigation into whether Elisa Beni, a local court employee and the wife of High Court Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, has breached rules on professional conduct by publishing a book about the trial of those implicated in the Madrid train bombings.

On Monday, Beni, the press spokesperson at the Madrid High Court of Justice, presented her book ‘La soledad del juzgador’ (The Loneliness of the Judger), in which she recounts the trial of the suspects involved in the March 11, 2004 train bombings from her husband’s perspective. Bermúdez was the presiding judge during the trial and passed sentence on October 31.

Beni and Bermúdez have both subsequently apologized to victims of the attacks, who claim that the book is an attempt to exploit the terrorist massacre commercially.

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL. 2007]

Subject: Spanish news