Spanish court sentences elderly man to 18 years for sending letter bombs

A Spanish court on Tuesday sentenced a pensioner to 18 years in prison over letter bombs sent to Spain's prime minister and the US and Ukrainian embassies in 2022.

Pompeyo Gonzalez Pascual -- who opposed Western support for Ukraine following Russia's February 2022 invasion -- was found guilty of terrorism and manufacturing explosives by Spain's top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional.

The homemade devices were sent to targets including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, the US and Ukrainian embassies, a Spanish arms firm that makes grenades donated to Ukraine and a major Spanish military base.

A Ukrainian embassy staffer sustained light injuries while opening one of the packages. The other packages were intercepted by security staff.

The court said 76-year-old Gonzalez Pascual had aimed to "cause a profound upheaval in Spanish society that would exert pressure so the governments of Spain and the United States and other entities based in Spanish territory would stop supporting Ukraine".

The amount of explosives contained in the letters he sent was "sufficient to produce injuries" of a "more or less serious nature depending on the proximity and which organs were affected", it added.

"The accused wilfully intended that the recipients of the mailed items be injured," the court said, adding this only did not happen due to "circumstances beyond the defendant's control".

An expert who examined Gonzalez Pascual's computer told the court they found evidence of "searches for how to prepare explosive devices" and visiting "media propaganda channels related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict".

At his home, investigators found a workshop containing soldering equipment, tools, metal parts and screws compatible with the letter bombs sent as well as indications of preparatory work to construct more devices.

Gonzalez Pascual was arrested in a police operation dubbed Konvert -- which means envelope in Russian - in Miranda de Ebro in central Spain in January 2023 and put in pre-trial detention.

But a judge granted him conditional release earlier this year on the grounds he had no previous convictions, and wasn't in a position to destroy evidence or likely to reoffend.

At the time, the judge said there were "no indications" he had acted in conjunction with "any organised terror group".

After the embassy attack, Ukraine's ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, pointed the finger at Russia. Kyiv also ramped up security at its embassies around the world.

Gonzalez Pascual used to work for the town hall of Vitoria, the capital of Spain's northern Basque Country, before retiring in 2013.