ID

245306

Etiquetas

PGOV, PINS, PTER, KJUS, SP, KCRM, PINR

Fecha

2010-01-25 15:30:00

RefID

10MADRID78

Origen

Embassy Madrid

Clasificación

SECRET//NOFORN

Destino

09MADRID1207

10MADRID76

Encabezado

VZCZCXRO7098

PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL

DE RUEHMD #0078 0251530

ZNY SSSSS ZZH

P 251530Z JAN 10

FM AMEMBASSY MADRID

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1741

INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 4316

RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY

RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY

RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

Contenido

S E C R E T MADRID 000078

NOFORN

SIPDIS

@ELIMINADO@

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2035

TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PTER, KJUS, SP, KCRM, PINR

SUBJECT: SPAIN: PROSECUTOR DISAVOWS AL-QAIDA TIES TO

BARCELONA SUBWAY PLOT

REF: A. 09 MADRID 1207

B. MADRID 76

Classified By: DCM Arnold A. Chacon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1. (S//NF) Contrary to self-incriminating court testimony by

the government's star witness in the recently concluded trial

regarding the plot to attack the Barcelona metro system,

National Court Prosecutor Vicente Gonzalez Mota on January 13

privately confirmed to POLOFF that there were no Al-Qaida

ties to the radical Islamist cell and that the witness was in

fact a third-country undercover agent, as the defense had

alleged. Gonzalez Mota, who tried the case, spoke with

POLOFF on the margins of the US-Spain Counter-Terrorism and

Organized Crime Experts Working Group meeting in Madrid (See

Ref B), at which Spanish prosecutors explained that Spanish

law allows for security services officials to remain

undercover - rather than appear behind a screen, reveal their

true identity and affiliation or some other alternative -

while testifying in court.

2. (S//NF) As reported in Ref A, the National Court on

December 14 convicted all 11 defendants arrested in the

"Operation Cantata" case to between 8.5 - 14.5 years

imprisonment for membership in a terrorist organization.

Post had reported on the sworn testimony in that trial by the

prosecution's star witness - a former member of the cell who

turned on his colleagues and notified authorities on the plot

- that he has been a member of Al-Qaida since 2005. Known as

F1, he testified that he traveled from Paris to Barcelona

under orders from an AQ official in Paris, where F1 said he

formed part of AQ's finance network. F1 testified that he

spent a year and a half undergoing training in AQ camps in

Pakistan, taking weapons training, the manufacturing of

explosives, and "brainwashing." He added that he had never

faced charges for his membership in AQ. Given the chance to

renounce his ties to AQ during cross-examination, F1

cryptically replied, "I can only say that I have come to tell

the truth to the judges and they will be the ones who decide

who I am now." Gonzalez Mota's private comments on January

13 explain F1's testimony in that the judges were aware that

the witness was an undercover agent rather than an AQ member.

3. (C) Gonalez Mota gave a formal presentation on the trial

in the bilateral working group meeting, in which he described

the trial as "very satisfactory" and the sentence as "fair."

He said that the prosecution will work to maintain the

convictions, which have been appealed to the Supreme Court.

In response to a question from the U.S. delegation, Gonzalez

Mota explained that the prosecution had not sought to indict

Baitullah Mehsud, the then leader of Tehrik e Taliban

Pakistan (TTP), a Pakistani terrorist group with links to AQ,

which claimed responsibility for the cell's actions because

doing so would have made the case more difficult and the

priority was to convict just the 11 defendants in Spain.

Gonzalez Mota asked rhetorically, what would have been gained

by indicting the now-deceased Mehsud? In response to another

question by the U.S. delegation, Gonzalez Mota stated that

the prosecution worked through Eurojust to receive police

cooperation from Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, where

the cell had ties. He said that Spain asked Pakistan for

information, but ended up giving more than it received. The

U.S. delegation congratulated Gonzalez Mota on a successful

prosecution.

SOLOMONT;"