Spanish court charges parcel bomb suspect with terrorism offences
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge has charged a 74-year-old man suspected of sending several parcel bombs targeting government, diplomatic and defence industry institutions in late 2022 with two counts of aggravated terrorism, a high court document showed on Tuesday.
Pompeyo Gonzalez Pascual was arrested in January after allegedly sending six parcels with homemade explosives addressed to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, the embassies of Ukraine and the United States in Madrid, an air force base and a weapons manufacturer between Nov. 24 and Dec. 2 of last year.
Most were defused, although a security employee at the Ukrainian embassy was slightly injured when one detonated.
Investigating magistrate Jose Luis Calama, speaking in the High Court in Madrid, said the two charges of terrorism and manufacturing explosive devices for terrorist purposes were warranted even if there was no evidence that Gonzalez belonged to or colluded with an organised terrorist group.
They were justified due to the nature and context of the acts, the use of explosive devices, as well as his political motives - such as disrupting public order and forcing the government to stop supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, Calama added.
Both were considered aggravated offences because two of the parcels expressly targeted high-ranking government officials - Sanchez and Robles.
The judge had released Gonzalez on bail in April citing his age, his lack of a criminal record and the fact that the evidence-gathering phase of the investigation had ended.
His passport was seized and he was barred from leaving the country. He must also appear at the nearest court every week and keep the judge informed of his whereabouts at all times.
Gonzalez is a retired former civil servant who lives in Miranda del Ebro in the northern province of Burgos.
During the investigation, police found traces of DNA matching Gonzalez's on the explosive devices.
Records supplied by online retailer Amazon showed Gonzalez had bought precursor materials for explosives, copper wires, adhesive tape and lettering templates in June and July 2022.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by David Latona and Angus MacSwan)
