MADRID (AFP) - The first trial of a suspect implicated in the Madrid train bombings is to open with a 16-year-old youth in the dock facing up to eight years in detention for allegedly handling the explosives used in the attacks which left 191 people dead.
The teenager is accused of helping to transport the explosives used in the March 11 attacks on four commuter trains, which also injured nearly 2,000 people.
The prosecution is calling for eight years detention in a youth centre -- rather than jail -- because of his age.
He will appear in court hidden by a screen.
The trial was set to last three days and cameramen and photographers will not be allowed, in line with all hearings of minors.
Nicknamed El Gitanillo (little gypsy) he is one of 19 suspects held on suspicion of involvement in the attacks. The majority are Moroccan nationals.
Warrants have been issued for six fugitive suspects while seven others blew themselves up in a police raid on a flat a southern suburb of Madrid on April 3.
Examinining magistrate Juan del Olmo, who in all has identified 32 suspects believed connected with the blasts, is hoping to complete work on his dossier before the first anniversary of the bombings.
The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was detained on June 16 on the same day as a former miner from a northern Spanish region.
The youth is believed to have become caught up in a network of drug dealers who, the Spanish authorities say, traded explosives stolen from the mines for drugs, selling the dynamite to the bombers.
According to judicial sources, the 16-year-old was paid around 1,000 euros (1,300 dollars) for his help which he has admitted to investigators.
11/16/2004 - 11:56 GMT - AFP