March 11 victims assail top prosecutor

Eight years after the March 11, 2004 train bombings, victims associations on Sunday remembered the 191 people who died in the tragedy with a plea to conspiracy theorists to put their speculations to rest.

The homages held at the Atocha train station coincided with nearby demonstrations by unions over the government’s labor reform package.

Pilar Manjón, president of the association of victims affected by terrorism, said that the “revolting manipulations of some fanatical conspiracy theorists” have cause enormous psychological damage to the victims and their families.

Manjón, who lost her son in the train bombing attacks, severely criticized Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce for recently ordering an inquiry into the remains of one of the bombed rail cars reportedly found in a Madrid train yard.

“The crimes, as you call them, have already been investigated and the criminals have been sentenced,” she said.

“You call yourself a fine legal specialist, but you seem to not know that the statute of limitations on obstruction of justice runs out after five years,” she said in a speech addressing the attorney general. “This I know myself, and I am only a victim. Way to go, Mr Attorney General.”

On March 4, Torres-Dulce announced that he wanted the Madrid district attorney to examine the remains of one of the rail cars, which was found in a train yard in Villaverde, to ensure that there was no obstruction of justice.