Spain court orders release of 10 suspected National Court bomb plotters News
Spain court orders release of 10 suspected National Court bomb plotters

[JURIST] A Spanish court on Monday ordered the release of 10 suspected terrorists accused of participating in a plot to bomb the Spanish National Court in Madrid, several days before the court is scheduled to announce the verdicts and sentences of all 30 suspected conspirators [BBC report] on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack and forgery. Only five suspects will actually be released, however, as the other five have unrelated charges pending against them.

The defendants, whose trial [JURIST report] began in October 2007, are accused of allegedly planned to ram a truck loaded with 1,100 pounds of explosives into the court house. They were charged [JURIST report] in 2004. The group's alleged mastermind, Abderrahmane Tahiri, also known as Mohamed Achraf, was extradited by Switzerland to Spain [BBC report] in 2005. The Spanish National Court is widely viewed as the center of Spain's anti-terror investigations, and the bomb plot was aimed at killing the country's top judges. AP has more.

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