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21 Convicted In Madrid Train Bombings

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By PAUL HAVEN, The Associated Press

Published: November 1, 2007

MADRID, Spain - Spain's National Court convicted the three main suspects in the Madrid commuter train bombings of mass murder Wednesday and sentenced them to years in prison for Europe's worst Islamic terror attack.

The verdict, however, was a mixed bag for prosecutors, who saw four other key defendants convicted of lesser offenses and an accused ringleader acquitted altogether.

Twenty-one defendants were convicted and seven were acquitted.

With much of the case resting on circumstantial evidence, the three judges may have been wary after a number of high-profile Spanish terror cases were overturned on appeal.

Spain's prime minister said the verdict still upheld justice, but victims of the attack, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 when bombs exploded on four trains on March 11, 2004, expressed shock and sadness over the court's decision.

'The verdict seems soft to us,' said Pilar Manjon, who lost her 20-year-old son in the attack and has become a leader of a victims association. 'I don't like it that murderers are going free.'

Three lead suspects - Jamal Zougam and Othman Gnaoui of Morocco and Emilio Suarez Trashorras of Spain - were convicted of murder and attempted murder and received prison sentences ranging from 34,000 to 43,000 years. Under Spanish law, the most they will spend in jail is 40 years. Spain has no death penalty or life imprisonment.

One of the biggest surprises was the acquittal of Rabei Osman, an Egyptian already convicted and jailed in Italy for the Madrid bombings.

Four other top suspects were acquitted of murder but convicted of other charges that included belonging to a terrorist organization. They received sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years in prison.

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