Melilla drama: Spanish prosecutor’s office announces closing of investigation

Spanish prosecutors announced on Friday that they had closed an investigation into the deaths of at least 23 African migrants who died trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco on June 24.

This classification was resolved without further action due to the absence of identified “signs of crime in the actions of agents” of the Spanish “security forces” during this tragedy, according to a press release from the prosecutor’s office. “We cannot conclude that the actions of the agents increased the risk to the life and physical integrity of the migrants, and therefore we cannot charge them with manslaughter,” he added.

2000 migrants tried to cross the fence

The prosecutor’s office, however, clarifies that it sent elements to the heads of law enforcement agencies for possible disciplinary action against agents suspected of throwing stones at migrants. The Spanish prosecutor announced the start of this investigation a few days after the tragedy, saying he wanted to “shed light on what happened.”

According to Moroccan authorities, at least 23 migrants died in a tragedy when nearly 2,000 migrants tried to cross the high mesh fence that separates Melilla from the Moroccan border town of Nador (north).

Non-governmental organizations and independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have reported 37 deaths in this tragedy, the deadliest ever recorded on the border between Morocco and the two Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the only European Union borders on the African continent. .