Word: spanishness
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...Explaining the decision to appeal to the Spanish newspaper ABC, chief prosecutor Javier Zaragoza maintained that the two charges were not identical. "Different people were implicated, different criminal activities committed - the Italian conviction doesn't include all the activities of the group that developed in Spain," he said. According to Zaragoza's interpretation, Osman was involved with two separatist organizations, and can therefore be convicted separately for membership in each...
...writing for the court, grounded that acquittal on the principle of non bis in idem, or double jeopardy, arguing that because Osman has already been convicted for membership in a terrorist organization by an Italian court, he cannot be found guilty for the same crime by the Spanish...
...that the sentence that Osman received - 10 years in prison - could not be changed. However, two days before Bermúdez presented that verdict, an appeals court in Milan did just that, reducing Osman's sentence to eight years. And it turns out that Osman is mounting another appeal. Spanish prosecutor Olga Sánchez referred to this twist when she filed her request that the acquittal be revisited. "The decision of the Milan criminal court still hasn't acquired firmness," she wrote...
...what's going on here? "If the sentence is being appealed in Italy, then the [Spanish] court made a mistake," says Cancio. "This was a huge case, and an error might have slipped through." But Queralt believes Bermúdez was justified even if appeals were still going on. "Spain's Constitutional Court changed things a few years ago, ruling in one case that all appeals don't have to be exhausted," he says. "It's enough that the process is under way." Endika Zulueta, Osman's lawyer, sides with Queralt. In an e-mail, he writes, "I will contest...
...Spain's Supreme Court to work out the fine points over the next year or so. In the meantime, hostile debate of the Madrid bombings - who was involved; who blamed whom for what; should investigations carry on or not - continues to be the favorite sport of Spanish politicians. On Tuesday, the Congress of Deputies debated whether the opposition Popular Party had mounted a "media jihad" in its efforts to prove that ETA was indeed involved in the attacks. The uncertainty surrounding Osman's sentence will just give them one more thing to argue about...