SPAIN: A Spanish judge orders jail pending trial for Chileans Monica Andrea Caballero Sepulveda and Francisco Javier Solar Dominguez who are suspected of planting an explosive device at the basilica of Our Lady of Pilar in Zaragoza

Record ID: 357712

  • Title: SPAIN: A Spanish judge orders jail pending trial for Chileans Monica Andrea Caballero Sepulveda and Francisco Javier Solar Dominguez who are suspected of planting an explosive device at the basilica of Our Lady of Pilar in Zaragoza
  • Date: 17th November 2013
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 17, 2013) (REUTERS) *EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS A RUDE GESTURE IN SHOT 2* VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE AUDIENCIA NACIONAL HIGH COURT SUSPECT, GERARDO DAMIAN FORMOSO FROM ARGENTINA, WALKING OUT OF COURT WEARING BLACK HOODIE AND SHOWING MIDDLE FINGER TO JOURNALISTS VARIOUS OF FORMOSO AND ROCIO YUNE MIRA FROM CHILE WALKING AWAY FROM C
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KBIK9BJB54N0E5FEW16KLPW1
  • Story Text: Two of the five people suspected of planting an explosive device inside Our Lady of Pilar Basilica in Zaragoza, northern Spain in October were sent to jail pending trial on Sunday (November 17) by a judge at Spain's Audiencia Nacional High court.
    Chileans Monica Andrea Caballero Sepulveda and Francisco Javier Solar Dominguez are charged with being part of a terrorist organisation, amongst other charges.
    Both were arrested on Wednesday (November 13) in Barcelona along with three others - Buenos Aires born Gerardo Damian Formoso, Rocio Yune Mira also from Chile and Italian Valeria Giacomoni - who were released on Sunday pending trial.

    "I have requested prison for Francisco Javier and Monica. The rest, release pending trial, they must check-in with the court weekly and relinquish their passports to avoid their departure from Spain," Public Prosecutor Teresa Sandoval said.

    "The public prosecutors office has charged them with belonging to a terrorist organization, of an anarchist nature, committing a crime, and a conspiring to commit crimes too."
    Nobody was injured in the blast on October 2 near the main altar of the basilica which was evacuated and sealed off by Spanish police immediately after the explosion. There was only minor damage.
    The explosion occurred as Zaragoza was about to kick off its annual religious festivities held from October 5 to 12. Our Lady of Pilar church draws thousands of visitors each year.
    A police news release on Wednesday said the detentions were carried out with the cooperation of the Chilean police who had been investigating a case in which 12 people were put on trial accused of belonging to a "terrorist organization and responsible for placing over 30 incendiary - explosive devices in Chile between 2006 and 2009".
    The two Chileans - Caballero Sepulveda and Solar Dominguez - who were subsequently detained by Spanish police, had moved to Barcelona after they were absolved due to a procedural error in the proceedings in Chile, the police news release said.
    It said the group that planted the explosive device in Zaragoza called itself the "Mateo Morral Insurrection Commando", a group named after 19th-century Spanish anarchist Mateo Morral.
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