The judge has concluded the instruction phase of the case, and now just two maintenance technicians will stand trial for the crash which killed 154 people.

Judge Javier Pérez at Instruction Court No. 11 in Madrid has concluded his investigation into the Spanair plane crash at Madrid Barajas which resulted in the death of 154 people in August 2008 and has dropped the charges against three of the accused.

They remain in place for the two maintenance technicians, José Antonio Viñuelas and Felipe García Rodríguez, who will stand trial on 154 counts of involuntary manslaughter and 18 of negligence resulting in injury.

The judge ruled on Monday to archive proceedings against the remaining three of the five who had been accused in the case: maintenance chief Jesús Torroba, the head of Spanair’s line maintenance division, David Torres, and the quality control chief, Alejandro Sahuquillo.

The Victims’ Association for Spanair Flight JK5022, the flight which crashed on takeoff at Barajas, described Monday’s news as, ‘bad for those affected, for the aviation sector and for all Spaniards.’

The Association’s spokesman and a survivor of the accident, Rafael Vidal, told the EFE news agency that the fact that the three managers are no longer charged will, in his view, allow other airlines, ‘to continue doing whatever they want’, in matters of safety.

Source.http://www.typicallyspanish.com