As we all care deeply for the victims and their families, the good news today is that one of the children survivors (6yo, craneal fracture and other face injuries) was the first to be discharged today from the hospital to return home.
He crawled by himself out of the plane through a hole in the fuselage, unbuckling his own safety belt, after checking on her sister (16, not a survivor) sat by his side and thinking she was asleep.
Often the judge, when he fears some big company or someone may try to hide evidence, would call for the investigation to become secret for a (short) while, not letting anyone out of the judiciary system know what/who he is investigating, so he could "show up by surprise" so information would less likely be revealed (leaked) to the the press in advance aiding those that the judge is thinking about pressing charges against conceal information or run away or whatever.
It is quite normal to have a big case with too many pieces of evidence and too many people involved or large number of victims to be clasified as "investigation under secrecy" for a while, until the risk of the (slow) proceeding of the investigation aiding those that (potentially) would be charged, dissapears. Then days (weeks, months?) later, the whole account of the investigation becomes public, detailing the steps the judge took.
Spain's judiciary system is so slow, it borderlines "unfit for purpose", as most investigations etc greatly benefit from being carried fast and efficiently, rather than incredibly slow and well ... not so efficiently at all.
This investigation is, of course, parallel and separate from the National Civil Aviation authorities as well as authorities' from other countries invited (the US has formally been invited to be part of the investigation as manufacturers of the plane as has the EEC), and is geared towards finding criminal behaviours or responsabilities on any of the parties involved (acts of terrorism, etc), but it's the investigation with the highest rank of authority, so it's the first one any evidence etc needs to be presented to. After the judge declares that no criminal neglicency, intent or behaviours can be observed and classifies the case as an accident, then they no longer need to be consulted/asked for permission/etc to continue technical and safety investigations.
Judiciary system's workers routinely leak information to the politicians and even the press on the proceedings before the final conclusions are even put on paper by the judge. Politicians, trying to save the day and knowing the public doesn't want to wait 2 years w/o any news, leak this information as well when they feel it's safe (certain) enough to do so.
Last edited by justme69; 25th Aug 2008 at 22:52.