Favorable stance of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the invasion in Ceuta at the National Court. The Prosecutor’s Office has submitted a report to Judge María Tardón stating that this court is competent to investigate the mass entry of immigrant persons into Ceuta on July 30 and 31.
The Chief Prosecutor of the Court, Jesús Alonso, points to the possible commission of crimes of facilitating irregular immigration, homicide and injuries due to serious negligence, and criminal organization or group. Furthermore, the Public Prosecutor’s Office argues that “the investigated facts would constitute, without prejudice to the subsequent legal qualification resulting from the investigation, crimes whose investigation corresponds to bodies capable of addressing complex and organized criminal phenomena.”
In a statement, this department emphasizes that the investigation must determine whether the facts also include “crimes affecting public order or collective legal goods, such as the peace or independence of the State.”
Likewise, the Prosecutor’s Office considers that, according to the existing evidence, “a substantial part of the planning, mobilization, logistical coordination, digital dissemination, and eventual strategic direction phase would have taken place in Moroccan territory, while the material execution of the action, the intended result, and the most relevant effects occurred in Spanish territory.”
Article 65.1.e) of the Organic Law of the Judiciary assigns the National Court jurisdiction over crimes committed outside national territory when, according to laws or international treaties, their prosecution corresponds to Spanish courts.
Also, in his report, the chief prosecutor has requested Judge Tardón to declare partial secrecy of the proceedings due to the concurrence of exceptional reasons.
The chief prosecutor decided yesterday to personally take on the matter given its importance. Initially, these proceedings had been assigned to prosecutor José Perals, who had conveyed to Alonso his favorable position to open a case at the Court, considering this body competent to investigate the invasion in Ceuta.
For her part, Judge Tardón has already received communications from the Police and the Civil Guard about what happened and must now decide whether to initiate a procedure – or not – regarding these facts. The consulted legal sources consider it highly likely that the judge will start a thorough investigation into what happened.
