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  Spain's Judicial Experiment: Madrid Terror Trial Is Broadcast on the Internet

Spain's Judicial Experiment Madrid Terror Trial Is Broadcast on the Internet

By Helene Zuber

Part 2: A Court TV without the Trash

Questions relating to the backers of the attacks are still the key political issue in Spain. Conservative newspapers and television networks have been unrelenting in their attempts to ridicule the National Court's investigations. But Spain's largest daily newspaper, the pro-Socialist Party El País, pokes fun at the conservatives for what it claims are conspiracy theories. Meanwhile the public, tired of the quarreling, has turned to the Internet as its source of information. According to Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, the Spaniards, not unlike St. Thomas, insist on seeing with their own eyes, so that they can reassure themselves that the court is indeed nonpartisan and is not pursuing a political agenda.

And the presiding judge is no stranger when it comes to dealing with new media. Together with his wife, a journalist, he recently published a handbook about the justice system and the media. He also has allies in Spain's Constitutional Court, which expressly called for opening up the courtrooms three years ago. This prompted Gómez Bermúdez to install 43 microphones in the courtroom. All 93,226 pages of investigative documents can be found using an electronic search engine. In addition to having important pieces of evidence exhibited in the courtroom, the judge uses his laptop to send the images to the 17 monitors distributed throughout the courtroom and to the television feed.

Sometimes Gómez Bermúdez, a short man with frameless glasses and a shaved head, turns directly to his assistant and says: "Roberto, the camera." In the interest of establishing the truth, he also uses a laser beam, which shoots down from the ceiling, allowing a special camera to scan documents produced by witnesses and add them to his files.

Live broadcasts of trials are considered preposterous in Germany. Indeed, German judges take pains to ensure that all cameras are removed from the chambers before a trial begins. Until now, Germany's television broadcasters have tried in vain to challenge the taboo against picture and sound broadcasts from the courtroom. Opponents of courtroom broadcasts fear that allowing them could turn trials into public entertainment, not unlike talk shows or reality TV shows.

Checks and Balances

But the Spaniards have taken steps to ensure that this doesn't happen. An official from the Justice Ministry and the National Court's press spokeswoman sit, hidden behind one-way glass, with technician Gallego in his broadcast booth. Part of their job is to make sure that witnesses are not shown from the front. Some witnesses who require special protection are already permitted to testify behind a screen, so that the defendants cannot see their faces. Because of these restrictions, the broadcasts tend to focus on the judges' bench. Prosecutors, defenders and attorneys of the victims, who appear as secondary plaintiffs, are shown from the front whenever they ask questions.

When trial participants succumb to the temptation to use the virtual presence of the global public to grandstand or to make unsubstantiated accusations, Gómez Bermúdez curtly sets them straight, reminding them that questions may not be "impertinent." If this doesn't work, Bermúdez can simply press one of three white buttons to switch off the microphones.

The defendants in the terror trial have apparently become accustomed to the global broadcast, and perhaps they are even savoring the questionable fame stemming from their actions. Some talk to one another, while others listen intently to the Arab translation through their headphones. The Spaniard who stands accused of having procured the explosives spends his time biting his nails and picking his nose.

In an upscale, glass-enclosed new building in Pozuelo de Alarcón, a Madrid suburb, more than 100 legal experts and social scientists working for Datadiar sit at computers, processing the images from the trial. Thick bundles of cables installed in the floor are connected to the company's distribution center. The lawyers, most of them young, work overtime to draft summaries and documents, in Spanish and in English, so that the broadcasts of the trial can be placed on the server as an electronic file, almost in real time.

Investors have sunk €50 million into Datadiar. Access to the site is free, but the company hopes to acquire more subscription customers for its pay-per-use services. Datadiar plans to sell its model -- combining trial broadcasts with printable documents and legal training on the Internet -- abroad.

The broadcasts from the Casa de Campo are also worth millions to the Spanish government. The Justice Ministry pays for the direct transmission and its director, Roberto Gallego. There is much left to do, because the court hearings are due to continue until at least mid-July, after which the judges will withdraw to reach their verdict.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

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