The lawsuit has been signed by hundreds of citizens
Lawsuit alleges 2004 Madrid train bombings were direct result of Aznar’s decision to send troops to Iraq.
DRID - A lawsuit is to be presented before Spain’s Supreme Court Friday accusing former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar of responsibility for the country’s involvement in the US-led military intervention in Iraq.
It also alleges that the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings were a direct result of Spain’s decision to send troops to Iraq.
The suit, filed by the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and a group called “Trial of Aznar” and signed by hundreds of citizens, also names Aznar’s former ministers of defence and foreign affairs, Federico Trillo and Ana Palacio, the PCE said in a statement Thursday.
The suit says that Spain’s involvement in the war was “total and absolute,” not only militarily but also “politically and logistically,” as evidenced by meetings between Aznar and then US president George W. Bush before the March 2003 invasion, the statement said.
Aznar’s conservative Popular Party was voted out of power in a general election three days after the train bombings, which killed 191 people.
The attacks were claimed by Islamic militants who said they had acted in part to protest the presence in Iraq of more than 1,200 Spanish troops sent by Aznar.
Spain’s Socialist Party won the election and new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero — for whom withdrawal from Iraq was an election pledge — quickly pulled the contingent out.
In January, 2004, the Supreme Court rejected another suit against Aznar, Trillo and Palacio over the same issue, and it is now before the Constitutional Court.
Tags: "Trial of Aznar", Aznar and Bush, Iraq war, Jose Maria Aznar, Madrid train bombings, Spain's Supreme Court Friday, Spanish troops
No comments:
Post a Comment