Trial of 2002 Fuengirola bombers starts

TWO members of Basque terrorist group ETA face 146 years in jail for a bombing in Fuengirola. The explosive device was placed outside a Fuengirola hotel in June 2002.

The trial against Oscar Zelarain and Andoni Otegi, who were arrested in France in September that year.

The public prosecution is asking for almost €100,000 in compensation for the six people who were injured in the car bomb attack outside Las Piramides Hotel on June 21, 2002.

They reportedly stole the car two days earlier and changed the number plates, parking it outside the hotel’s restaurant with the intention of causing “as many deaths as possible” according to the prosecutor.

Three calls alerting that the bomb would go off at 7am were received just 30 minutes earlier and the police evacuated and cordoned off the area but there was not enough time to deactivate the bomb. Several vehicles and buildings were damages in a 150m radius.

They have already been sentenced to 18 years and three months in prison for a car bomb in Marbella that same month.