Spain's Supreme Criminal Court sentenced a man to 18 years in prison for letter bombs sent in 2022 to the Spanish Prime Minister and the US and Ukrainian embassies.
The court determined why the pensioner sent bomb letters
76-year-old Pompeo Gonzalez Pascual,who opposed Western support for Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the court found him guilty of terrorism and manufacturing explosives.
The court found that the pensioner in 2022 sent improvised explosive devices to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Defense Minister Margarita Robles, the US and Ukrainian embassies, a Spanish company that produces grenades for Ukraine, as well as a large military base.
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A Ukrainian embassy employee was slightly injured while opening one of the packages; other letters were intercepted by security.
The court also found that Gonzalez Pascual intended to cause serious discord in Spanish society in order to pressure the Spanish and US governments to stop supporting Ukraine.
And the amount of explosives in the letters was sufficient to cause injuries of varying severity.
— The defendant knowingly intended for the recipients of the mail to be injured, — the court noted, adding that this did not happen only because of circumstances that were beyond the defendant’s control.
Experts found evidence on Gonzalez Pascual's computer that he was looking for ways to make explosive devices, and also visited propaganda channels related to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
In his house they found a workshop with soldering equipment, tools, metal parts and screws compatible with the letters sent, as well as signs of preparation for the manufacture of new devices.
Gonzalez Pascual was arrested in January 2023 during a police operation called Envelope in Miranda de Ebro in central Spain.
