Judge María Tardón has agreed this Monday to investigate the irregular mass entry in Ceuta on July 30 and 31, considering that the National Court has jurisdiction because it was a serious attack on the territorial integrity of Spain.
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The investigator indicates that she will investigate whether crimes compromising the peace or independence of the State were committed, against the rights of foreign citizens in connection with reckless homicides, as well as criminal organization.
“We are facing a criminal conduct allegedly committed abroad that has seriously attacked the territorial integrity of Spain, which is guaranteed in Article 2 of the Constitution, using the mass entry into our country, to which irregular migratory flows have joined that have seriously affected the life and rights of the citizens of Ceuta,” states the resolution.
In her order admitting jurisdiction, which includes a favorable report from the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate these facts, the investigator includes the report from the National Immigration and Borders Center (CENIF) on the development of the events, which shows that these were not incidental, occasional, or spontaneous actions, but a process in which the migratory purpose operated only as a formal cover.
She indicates that in the phase prior to the mass entry on July 30, there was a sustained and increasing situation in entries to Ceuta, while highlighting the unique importance of social networks for the mass propagation of the call.
“The confluence of these factors was detected by the Police Unit that prepared the report of the facts considered here, the National Immigration and Borders Center (CENIF), which, already on 07/29/2026, issued a first Mass Entry Risk Alert for dissemination to the Border Posts of Ceuta and Melilla through the National Coordination Center of Border Posts of the CGEF (CEFRONT), stating the forecast of an EXTREME risk for a scenario of swimming entries + coordinated fence jumping,” explains the judge.
The phase in which the mass mobilization occurred, according to the order, reveals waves of different intensity and profile, which caused a collapse of the response capacities by the Spanish border control system and a massive violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty.
Finally, in the phase after the mass entry, the resolution continues, “various subsequent destabilizing effects occurred in Spain’s response capacity system that are still evolving and projected on different levels (Public Security, Health, Social Services, Defense, etc.), other effects of an international or geopolitical profile, effects on internal politics supported and amplified with some cases of disinformation/counter-narrative, etc.”
The judge also notes in her order that access to Ceuta on those days occurred through different waves of people of different types, with “absolute disregard for the lives of the most vulnerable people” among them, and who, despite their circumstances, were led to throw themselves into the sea unprepared, wearing inadequate clothing that could hinder their movements in the water and equipped with precarious flotation devices.
“There has also been clear and undeniable facilitative management of the process from the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco, on the beach of Fnideq itself and nearby places in the city of Castillejos, evidenced through the verified and graphically contrasted behavior of the Moroccan Security Forces: in the attitude observed in the different uniformed members of the Moroccan Security Forces, extensively documented in the report by incorporating images (photos and videos) which, moreover, have been and are still being broadcast on various television channels and social networks reporting the facts considered here,” points out Tardón.
An attitude, the judge adds, that not only shows permissiveness, since throughout July 30 and 31 no serious attempt was recorded to try to reduce, disperse, or move the mass of people away from the border perimeter on July 30, but “at the same time, and in an attitude that, in the opinion of this Investigator, is described in the report as ‘active guidance,’ as it is observed how the uniformed police themselves give instructions to the people illegally crossing the border, to direct them on how to carry out the crossing, overcome the obstacles at that access, and even organize access to the area leading to Fnideq Beach, and already within its waters.” Added to this is the existence of activating agents of the mass of people entering Spanish territory.
The magistrate explains in her writing that the facts, in a provisional examination, fit a crime that compromises the peace or independence of the State, noting that “with illegal acts or those not properly authorized,” Spaniards are exposed “to experience abuses or reprisals on their persons or property.”
“From the provisional examination of the facts,” adds Tardón, “it is deduced that the crime has the intent to attack the State, violating its territorial integrity as the Prime Minister pointed out who, during his visit to Ceuta on July 31, 2026, defined the events as ‘an attack, a violation of the territorial integrity of Spain.’ And this, through a massive migratory flow that constitutes one of the characteristic methods of ‘hybrid war’ or ‘gray zone,’ with the aim of altering the life and rights of Spanish citizens, specifically, of an entire Autonomous City.”
It would be a crime committed abroad, so it would fall under the jurisdiction of the National Court.
The judge recalls that the use of migratory flows is one of the methods used in “hybrid war” or “gray zone” actions in which attacks on States can occur, “often combining so-called internet calls with disinformation on social networks, and which, as in the present case and usually, are committed abroad, so the jurisdiction to investigate them corresponds to the National Court.”
For the magistrate, the facts may constitute a crime against the rights of foreign citizens in connection with reckless homicide crimes regarding 83 accredited deaths so far in Spanish waters.
The order recounts that these people lost their lives by drowning or crushing during the swim from Moroccan territory, where they were incited to throw themselves into the sea, “disregarding their physical conditions and without considering the vulnerability of many of them: elderly people, families with children, some babies in their parents’ arms, providing them with flimsy flotation devices, some little more than toys, so that they entered massively as described, on the Spanish beach of El Tarajal, with the dramatic consequence that they lost their lives on that journey.”
The order details that the police report describes a criminal structure fitting the crime of criminal organization and that was committed abroad, where criminal organizations operate or where the people who make them up or who may have participated in the events seem to be located.
The order indicates that the police report identifies different levels of action, which will be outlined throughout the investigation, “from digital promoters to organizers on the ground and those responsible for possible strategic planning. This functional distribution of tasks, the temporal permanence of the phenomenon, the observed coordination, and the proven mobilization capacity constitute circumstances that, at least indicatively, justify the investigation of a possible complex criminal structure.”
The order adds that the facts perfectly fit the risk scenarios foreseen in the National Security Strategy approved in 2021, which specifies: “The Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, due to their geographical location on the African continent and the specificity of their Spanish and European border, require special attention from the General State Administration to guarantee the security and well-being of their citizens.” “Precisely -concludes the magistrate- because they may be subject to the use of irregular migratory flows to destabilize National Security.”
A five-level structure
In her order, the judge identifies a structure of at least five levels in which, she assures, in three of them it is possible to identify specific people and in the other two, for now, it is not possible to point to specific and individualized persons.
In this sense, she explains that at level 1 would be the mass of people who entered Ceuta, while at the second would be the message activators with a central role of social networks to mobilize the thousands of people who entered massively.
At the third, there would be the organizers of the flow of people, who were on the ground. Specifically, she points to the uniformed police and the “non-uniformed activating agents” who have been detected in some cases giving instructions to the former.
At the fourth level, the investigator points out, is the planning of the process which, compared to other irregular entries in previous years, shows a refinement or improvement with a more elaborate and efficient impact than in previous cases.
Finally, at level 5 are those in charge of direction. “We are facing a planned and executed process through the coordination of actors of the relevance of those mentioned in Levels 3 and 4, and this requires a high capacity of influence on social networks, on people linked to the Moroccan security forces, and on people or institutions with the capacity and necessary experience to be part of the planning level of the process,” warns Tardón.
The judge concludes that, in any case, the investigation must cover all participation that could involve any type of criminal responsibility. “In this regard, all actions taking place in Spanish territory related to such a massive and irregular entry of tens of thousands of immigrants, violating the Spanish border at the referred border post, in the manner detailed, such as the articulation of adequate response means in Spanish territory, in relation to information and alerts of its possible occurrence, and the impact that these actions may have had on the effects produced by this mass entry, must be investigated.”
Regarding the Prosecutor’s request to order partial secrecy of the proceedings, the judge states that this will be established concerning the investigative proceedings whose execution requires avoiding knowledge by the parties, except the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In her order, the holder of seat 3 of the Instruction Section of the Central Court of First Instance accepts the appearance of all complainants, except Se Acabó la Fiesta, although she indicates that they must first post a 6,000 euro bond. In this regard, the judge orders them to agree to group around a representation and warns that, if they do not, the party Iustitia Europa will be designated once it makes the bond payment for being the first to file the complaint for these facts.
