Spain court orders release of letter bomb suspect  

A pensioner who allegedly sent letter bombs to Spain’s prime minister and the Ukrainian embassy has been released on bail, a Spanish court said Friday.

The 74-year-old is accused of having sent six letter bombs to targets including Spanish ministers and embassies to push Madrid into halting support for Kyiv in the fight against Russia’s invasion.

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The home-made devices were sent in late November and early December to Spain’s prime minister and defense minister, the Ukrainian and US embassies, the European Union Satellite Centre near Madrid and to a Spanish arms manufacturer in the northeastern city of Zaragoza.

Nobody was killed by the devices, but a Ukrainian embassy staffer sustained light injuries while opening one of the packages.

The pensioner was arrested in January and placed in pre-trial detention on the grounds that he could flee to “Russian territory”.

But Judge Jose Luis Calama of Spain’s top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, said Friday it had granted the man bail pending trial.

The judge ordered him to follow a list of bail conditions, including reporting to a court hear his home every week and surrendering his travel documents so he can’t leave Spain.

In his ruling, the judge said there was no longer a risk that the suspect could destroy evidence and there was no evidence that he would repeat the crimes he is accused of.

The judge also noted that the man has no previous criminal record and said that given his age “other protective measures which are less restrictive” could be applied.

If convicted, the suspect could face up to 20 years in jail on terror offences.

The judge said the suspect sought to “force” the Spanish authorities to “refrain from supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression”, which made him a flight risk.

While he said there were no indications of his involvement “with any other terrorist group”, Spanish police have not ruled out “the participation or influence of other people”.

The suspect’s arrest followed a New York Times report which said Russian military intelligence officers had “directed” associates of a Russia-based white supremacist group to carry out the campaign in Spain.

Investigators suspect the radical Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) — which is thought to have ties to Russian intelligence and has associates across Europe — is behind the letter bomb campaign.

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