Verdict due in Madrid bomb trial

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Madrid court is expected to deliver the verdict and sentence Wednesday for 28 defendants charged in the commuter train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in 2004.

Eight of the defendants are prime suspects in the bombings and charged with murder. If convicted, they would each face sentences of nearly 39,000 years -- calculated at 30 years for each of the 191 people killed in the bombings and 18 years, for attempted murder, against each of the wounded.

Despite the huge potential sentences, none of the defendants would serve more than 40 years, the maximum allowed under Spanish law, which does not permit the death penalty.

The other defendants face smaller sentences if convicted on lesser charges like membership in or collaboration with a terrorist group.

All defendants proclaimed their innocence in the opening days of the trial.

The coordinated train bombings struck the morning of March 11, 2004, at Atocha station in central Madrid. They were the most serious terrorist attacks in western Europe since al Qaeda became active.

Prosecutors say those on trial are Islamic terrorists who were based in Spain but inspired by al Qaeda. Most are Moroccans but nine are Spaniards, accused of providing stolen explosives that were used in the attacks.

The five-month trial started in February with 29 defendants, but prosecutors later dropped all charges against one, Moroccan-born Brahim Moussaten, for lack of evidence.

His brother, Mohamed Moussaten, remained on trial, accused of collaborating with terrorism. The brothers' uncle, Youssef Belhadj, was also on trial, accused of masterminding the bombings.

The first defendant to testify was another accused mastermind, Rabei Osman el Sayed Ahmed, also known as Mohamed the Egyptian.

Italian police provided recorded wiretaps of Ahmed in the months before the bombings in which he boasted the Madrid attacks were his "project." On the stand, Ahmed condemned the attacks, denied any link, and said the voice on the tapes was not his.

Also on trial was Hamid Ahmidan, accused of collaborating with a terrorist group and drug trafficking. Ahmidan's cousin Jamal was one of seven prime suspects who blew himself up three weeks after the attacks when police closed in on their suburban Madrid hideout.

Prosecutors said two other Moroccan-born defendants, Rafa Zouhier and Othman El Gnaoui, were "necessary cooperators" in the attacks.

Zouhier was crucial to the plot, prosecutors said, because he was an intermediary between an Islamic terrorist cell in Spain and a group of Spaniards who were trafficking in explosives. El Gnaoui ensured that explosives were transported to a home near Madrid where the bombs were assembled and knew they would be used in a terrorist attack, prosecutors said.

Another "necessary cooperator" was Suarez Trashorras, who prosecutors said led a group of Spaniards who accepted drugs and cash as payment for stolen explosives, which then ended up in the hands of the bombers.

Witnesses testified seeing another defendant, Jamal Zougam, on one of the trains the morning of the bombings. Prosecutors said the only bomb deactivated by police had clues that led straight to him, though Zougam's defense lawyer denied that. E-mail to a friend

CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report

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