BBC NEWS | Europe | Spain hopes for Madrid bombs justice: "As the trial of 29 suspects accused of involvement in the Madrid train bombings gets under way, the BBC's Danny Wood, in Madrid, profiles what will be very public - and protracted - proceedings.
To get anywhere near Europe's biggest trial of alleged Islamic militants you have to pass an armoured vehicle sporting an ominous looking heavy weapon, a line of policemen, some with sub-machine guns, and a colourful variety of security vans overlooked by a noisy, circling police helicopter.
The Spanish authorities have gone big on security, but it has not stopped people from finding out what is going on inside the courthouse.
This is a very public, transparent and hi-tech trial.
Spaniards can watch the sessions live on television or over the internet and assess the evidence for themselves.
The indictments - all 100,000 pages of them - have been digitised and at a wave of his finger, the presiding and rather intimidating Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez moves them onto flat-screen television sets for all to see."