On the day appointed for the sessions to open, the exhibits gathered will be taken to the courtroom and the Presiding Judge, when he deems appropriate, will declare the session open.

If in the case there was, apart from the list of charges presented by the public prosecutor, a private prosecution made by one or several complainants, the defendant will be asked if he pleads “guilty” to the most serious offence, and if he accepts civil liability for the largest sum that has been set as a fine.

If the defendant has been charged with more than one offence, the same questions will be asked regarding each of the charges.

If there is more than one accused, each will be asked about his/her involvement in the affair.

If anyone else is deemed to have civil liability, they will also be called to the stand to make a declaration as to whether or not they agree with the conclusions of the list of charges of civil liability that concern them.

The Presiding Judge will ask the before-mentioned questions clearly and precisely, demanding straightforward answers.

If the accused does not plead “guilty as charged”, or if his counsel considers that the trial should continue, it will.

If the only point of dissent is the one concerning civil liability, the trial will continue.

The trial will also continue if the defendant or defendants refuse to answer the Presiding Judge’s questions.

If the accused pleads “not guilty” and the trial is set to continue, the following steps will be taken:

The Secretary will explain the fact that has led to the creation of the summary proceeding and the day on which it was drawn up, stating whether the accused is in prison or on parole, with or without right to bail.

The list of charges will be read out as well as the lists of experts and witnesses that have been duly presented, making reference to the other evidence that has been submitted and accepted.

Following this the evidence and witnesses will be presented, starting with those presented by the Ministry of Public Prosecution, followed by those presented by the private prosecution, and finally those presented by the defendants.

The evidence of each of the parties will be examined in the same order as they appear in the corresponding document. The witnesses will also be questioned in the order that their name appears on the lists.

The Presiding Judge, however, is free to alter this order if requested by any of the parties or at his convenience if he considers it necessary to clarify the facts and so ensure that the truth come out.

DAY ONE: THE FIRST PERSON CALLED TO THE STAND IS RABEI OSMAN EL SAYED, "MOHAMED THE EGYPTIAN"

The trial for the 11th March (11-M) bomb attacks will start on Thursday in the “Audiencia Nacional” (National Court of Spain) with the interrogation of Rabei Osman El Sayed, "Mohamed The Egyptian", who was arrested in Milan (Italy) on 7th June, 2004, and who is considered to be one of the masterminds behind the massacre.

According to the order of questioning proposed by the Public Prosecutor, after “The Egyptian”, the other two men alleged to be the masterminds of the bomb attacks will be called to the stand, these are: Youssef Belhadj (believed to be in charge of the military wing of Al-Ansar, Al-Qaeda branch), and Hassan El Haski, thought to be the head of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) in Spain.

When the Public Prosecutor finishes his interrogatory, NEXT TO ADDRESS THE COURT, IN THIS ORDER, WILL BE: PRIVATE PROSECUTIONS – WHICH INCLUDE VICTIMS ASSOCIATIONS AND THE LEGANÉS CITY COUNCIL-, THE COUNSELS FOR THE REMAINING DEFENDANTS AND, LASTLY, THE COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENDANT WHO IS ON THE STAND AT THE TIME.

The defendants –those in custody will sit in reinforced-glass booths during the trial or if not in custody on a bench before the court- can refuse to answer any or all questions, and are not obliged to tell the truth.

After the alleged masterminds, the next to take the stand will be the alleged authors of the bombings: Jamal Zougam, Basel Ghalyoun and Abdelmajid Bouchar, who were recognized by eyewitnesses on the trains that were bombed on 11th March, 2004.

Next will be the turn of the alleged accomplices in charge of fundraising, and recruiting and indoctrinating the terrorists involved in the attacks.

The men in this group are: Fouad El Morabit, Mouhannad Almallah Dabas, Hamid Ahmidan, Otman El Gnaoui, Abdelilah El Fadual, Rachid Aglif, Mohamed Bouharrat, Saed El Harrak, Nasreddine Bousbaa, Mahmoud Slimane Aoun, Mohamed and Brahim Moussaten and Mohamed Larbi Ben Sellam.

The last to declare will be the defendants linked to the explosive material: the informer Rafa Zouhier and the nine Spaniards that make up the so-called "trama asturiana" (Asturian plot): José Emilio Suárez Trashorras, Antonio and Carmen Toro, Emilio Llano, Iván Granados, Javier González, Raúl González, Sergio Álvarez and Antonio Iván Reis.

The trial will then enter the so-called testimony stage. The Prosecutor will be the first to interrogate, followed by the counsel for the private prosecution and defence.

The witnesses, unlike the defendants, must answer all questions truthfully.

Among those to be summoned, in addition to several victims, are three ETA prisoners: an ex-member of the "comando itinerante" (Itinerant Group), Henri Parot, and two members of the so-called "caravana de la muerte" (convoy of death), Izkur Badillo and Gorka Vidal.

Some of these witnesses will probably ask for special protection; if the court agrees to this, they will make their declarations from behind a screen or curtain out of sight of the public, although in sight of the defendants, as everyone has the right to see whoever is accusing him/her. 

The Prosecutor and the private prosecution and defence counsels will not be able to make questions once their turn is over, except if they ask them via the Presiding Judge, Magistrate Javier Gómez Bermúdez, who has the right to make questions at any given time.

After the witnesses it is the turn of the experts, when several experts will ratify the conclusions of the reports concerning different matters related to the case, such as the composition of explosive material used, DNA evidence, etc.

The documentation stage consists in reading out the documents that have been added to the case during the investigation, and of those parts deemed important to support their theories.

Subsequently, each party will ratify or change their provisional conclusions, i.e. they will announce if they sustain their initial motion for punishment  -or acquittal, in the case of the defence- for each of the defendants.

Firstly the Public Prosecutor and lastly the defence counsels will present their final reports, in which they will try to convince the court that their respective arguments have been duly proved during the trial.

Last of all is the so-called “last-word turn”, in which the defendants will be able to address the court before the court states that it is ready to pronounce judgement.