‘My legs are trembling, I’m afraid’
“My daughter boarded the train at around 7am. She will never return, I feel a deep pain,” said Djamila Benselah, a veiled Moroccan woman who lost her 13-year-old daughter in the attacks.
“It is really hard to look into the eyes of the murderers of your daughter. I hope the killers are convicted,” she added as she stood outside the high-security Madrid court that is hearing the case.
Like Benselah herself, most of the suspects on trial are Moroccan immigrants to Spain.
Psychologists were on hand at the court to help survivors and victims’ relatives cope with the emotions stirred up by memories of the day of the bombings which the start of the trial evoked.
“My legs are trembling, I’m afraid. My stomach is churning,” said a tearful Pilar Manjon, who lost her 20-year-old son in the attacks and who chairs a victim support association, as she arrived at the court dressed in black.
“It’s going to be difficult to look in the eye those who destroyed my life but I will do it for my son,” she added.
“It has been many months of waiting, I am very nervous,” said Barbara Morales, a young women who lost her husband in the attacks who arrived at the court at 7 am to ensure she could watch the hearings.
Lawyer Jose Maria Fuster Fabra, who represents survivors of 90 people who were killed in the attacks, said survivors and family members of those who perished in the attacks would all react differently to the start of the trial.
“Today some will remain holed up at home, others will watch the trial on television, but they will all be very troubled,” he said.
A just-released report by psychiatrists and social workers involved with helping the survivors and relatives overcome their trauma found that over half of them still suffer psychological problems like anxiety.
Barely one-in-five survivors have not been on a train since while 23% have been unable to return to work.
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