The president of the court of the National Court that judged the attacks of March 11, 2004 and now a judge on leave, Javier Gómez Bermúdez, believes that «the sentence can be improved» and it was not «round» because Antonio Toro was not convicted in the first instance for 11M, despite the fact that the Supreme Court finally imposed a four-year sentence on him for trafficking in explosives.
«I should have tried harder, because if I could reason a little more, the Supreme Court would probably have validated the sentence. We understood that there was enough evidence to convict him and we fell short,” he acknowledges in an interview with Europa Press on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, facts that expire this Monday.
Gómez Bermúdez, who has been a lawyer at the Ramón y Cajal firm for seven years, was the president of the court and the speaker of the sentence that sentenced 18 people for the attacks that took the lives of 193 people and left more than 2,000 injured.
The judge on leave emphasizes that although the sentence itself “was not round”, he believes that “a correct job” was done. Of course, he assures that it is still not explained how they overlooked the issue regarding Toro. «I think we were so involved… Well (I missed it)to me in particular, who was the speaker and therefore was obliged to propose the legal theses to my colleagues,” he adds.
Despite this nuance, later corrected by the high court, Gómez Bermudez believes that the facts were clearly proven. That is why he regrets the existence of “conspiracy theories”, which in his opinion “have done a lot of harm to the victims.”
«The pain they feel for what they have suffered, for what has happened to them, is further increased by doubt, artificially created. “To continue discussing such absurd things as whether ETA intervened, or whether there was titadine or not… I think it has done a lot of damage,” she says.
Looking back, Gómez Bermúdez remembers that in the months after the attacks “society was divided” and Different sides were created, also among the media. «There are those who treated the information more dignifiedly and those who did not. But conspiracy theories have no basis at all,” he insists.
Along these lines, the lawyer regrets that “there are still politicians, most of them retired, who continue to hold unsustainable theses.” «It is their right, they are citizens, they have freedom of expression; they will see. But that is simply an opinion,” he adds.
Despite everything, twenty years after the attacks Gómez Bermúdez maintains that “never, neither before, nor during nor after the sentencing” Nobody has scolded him or reproached him for his actions.. «No one has approached me on the street, let’s say with bad manners, quite the opposite. The few that approach me are to ask me or thank me. “The people are very kind,” she admits.