WORLD BRIEFING / SPAIN
A Spanish court sentenced three senior army officers to prison for knowingly misidentifying the bodies of 30 peacekeepers killed in a plane crash while returning from Afghanistan.
A total of 62 Spanish military personnel and 13 Ukrainian and Belorussian crew members died in the May 2003 crash in northwestern Turkey. Thirty-two of the Spaniards were identified correctly, but relatives of the other 30 got the wrong bodies.
Prosecutors argued the team rushed the job because they were under political pressure from Madrid to get all the bodies home quickly for a state funeral.
Gen. Vicente Navarro, who signed death certificates, was sentenced to three years in prison; the other two officers were sentenced to 18 months each.
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