Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero accused the former government of deceiving the public between the March 11th Madrid train bombings and March 14th elections and of erasing computer records on that period.
"It was all deceit. It was massive deceit," Zapatero told a parliamentary commission today.
He said the former goverment deceived the public by blaming the train bombings, which killed 191 people, on Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA. Investigators later determined that Islamic militants were responsible for the attacks.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
Mr Zapatero dismissed any link between his election victory last March and the Madrid train bombings three days earlier.
"It's unacceptable to add" to Spain's suffering "the infamy of classifying as cowardly a valiant people," he said. "No Spanish government has kneeled to terrorism and none will."
Mr Zapatero's opening remarks lasted more than half an hour. Questioning from the 16-member commission, comprised of all groups in parliament, could last all day, as was the case two weeks ago when former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar testified.
The commission is focusing on the political context of the attack - whether security forces could have prevented it; whether perpetrators were being identified, arrested and prosecuted; and whether national defences were being strengthened against a possible subsequent attack.