Belgium opens trial linked to Madrid bombings

BRUSSELS - Belgium opened a trial on Thursday of 13 men accused of belonging to an Islamic militant group blamed for bombings in Madrid and Casablanca.

They face charges of providing false papers, safe houses and logistical help to members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), which is held responsible for the 2004 Madrid attacks on four commuter trains that killed 191 people.

The GICM has also been linked to the 2003 bombings in Casablanca, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide attackers.

Among those accused is Khalid Bouloudo, an alleged leader of the GICM's Belgian cell.

Another suspect, Youssef Belhadj, was extradited to Spain where he was wanted on suspicion of being the al Qaeda spokesman who claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings.

If found guilty, the 13 men - three Belgians and 10 Moroccans - face five to 10 years in prison.

None is accused of direct involvement in the bombings.

Three of them were missing in court on Thursday, one of whom is in prison in Syria.

The trial, which begins in earnest on November 16, is the first prosecution under Belgium's new anti-terrorist law, which explicitly makes terrorism a crime. In previous trials, suspects were charged with belonging to a criminal organisation.

Although police found no guns or bombs or attack plans when they began arrests in 2004, they produced transcripts of tapped phone conversations between some of the suspects and alleged perpetrators of the Madrid bombings.

Outside the courtroom, lawyers said the new anti-terrorist law made it hard for them to defend their clients.

Filip Van Hende said his client's friendship with suspected GICM members was enough to send him to jail regardless of whether he actually belonged to the group.

"It will be very difficult to defend because the legislation is so vague," he told Reuters.

Lawyer Gilles Vanderbeck said the law put the burden of proof on his client, Omar Mourad, to explain why he had been in touch with suspected militants.

Earlier this year a Spanish court convicted 18 men of belonging to or cooperating with al Qaeda.

- REUTERS