The most dramatic aspect of the first week of the "Dirty War" trial in Madrid, in which a former Socialist minister faces a 23-year jail sentence, was the relentless politicisation of the case, Paddy Woodworth writes.
The 12 defendants, who range from the former interior minister, Mr Jose Barrionuevo, to junior anti-terrorist policemen, are accused of forming an armed gang to kidnap a suspected member of the Basque terrorist organisation, ETA, in 1983. The kidnapping initiated three years of killings in France by the so-called Grupos Anti-terroristas de Liberacion (GAL).
"This case is a political operation, which will only benefit ETA," the former Socialist prime minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez, declared before the trial opened. The current Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, reproved Mr Gonzalez last Monday for "irresponsibility", reminding him that "the anti-terrorist struggle can only be damaged by actions outside the law, and never because the rule of law is enforced."
However, evidence given on the same day immediately implicated Mr Aznar himself. A former police inspector, Mr Michel Dominguez, told the court that his lawyer had been assured in 1994 by Mr Alvarez Cascos, who is now Mr Aznar's deputy prime minister, that Mr Dominguez and his colleagues would be pardoned by his party, with Mr Aznar's approval, as long as they incriminated top Socialists. Mr Cascos told journalists in parliament on Wednesday that this allegations was "utterly false".
The Socialist leadership had promised to maintain silence during the trial. But their new president, Mr Jose Borrell, who is supposed to represent a new departure from the corruption associated with the Gonzalez years, weighed in with the comment that "it is appalling that the deputy prime minister should have used the power he had to influence a witness".
The use of the GAL trial as an explosive political football tends to obscure the fact that the evidence given during the week remains damning to the Socialist administration. Mr Dominguez and six other policemen gave the court a wealth of detail about the kidnapping, all claiming it had government authorisation.
The former chief of police intelligence in Bilbao insisted on Wednesday that Mr Barronuevo had promised him that he would publicly take responsibility for the kidnapping. According to this policeman, Mr Barrionuevo continued: "If this gets to Felipe [Gonzalez], he will come out as well. If Felipe gives us a helping hand, so much the better."
The trial is expected to continue for weeks, with most expectation focusing on the cross-examination of Mr Barrionuevo. Mr Gonzalez and Mr Cascos have also been called as witnesses.