[JURIST] A Spanish National Court judge has confirmed indictments against 29 suspects accused in connection with the March 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive] that killed 191 people and injured or wounded almost 2000 others. Judge Juan del Olmo [Europa Press profile, in Spanish] initially handed down the massive charges [JURIST report; PDF text in Spanish, parts 1, 2, 3 and 4] in April subject to appeal. The way is now clear for a trial in the case before a three-judge panel, but no date has yet been set and pretrial motions could take months. BBC News has more.

The disciplinary committee of Spain's General Judicial Council said in June that it would investigate [JURIST report] why Del Olmo failed to apply for an extension of the detainment of one of the suspects, resulting in his release on parole. Del Olmo was said to have been suffering from bad health when he made the mistake not to apply for the extension, and was replaced by another High Court judge soon thereafter. He has said the mistake was due to a typing error.