The chief prosecutor of the National Court, Jesús Alonso, has informed the judge of the National Court María Tardón that he is taking over the Ceuta case, so that he, and not the assigned prosecutor, will report on the jurisdiction and acceptance for processing of the complaint filed by an accusation, according to what La Vanguardia has learned from legal sources.
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Alonso made this decision after analyzing the police report delivered to the magistrate which includes the possible role of the Moroccan police in the massive entry of migrants from Morocco to Ceuta on July 30 and 31.
The prosecutor who had initially taken on the matter was in favor of supporting the start of an investigation for possible indications of a crime against the integrity of the State. Now, Alonso will decide the official position of the Prosecutor’s Office.
The significance of the matter is the reason that has led the head of the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court to personally take charge of the case, with the knowledge and direction of the State Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutor sources already communicated days ago that given the importance of the matter, article 25 of the Prosecutor’s Statute had been applied so that the highest responsible, Teresa Peramato, is informed of the actions taken regarding the matter.
Before communicating an official position, Alonso is pending receipt of the report from the Civil Guard Intelligence Service, requested by Tardón. The magistrate, after a report from the prosecutor, must decide whether the National Court has jurisdiction and if there are grounds to admit for processing a complaint filed by the party Iustitia Europa for the massive assault in Ceuta at the end of July, which caused the entry of more than 70,000 people into the autonomous city.
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The first report to arrive was from the National Immigration and Borders Center (CENIF) of the National Police, which suggests the possible role of the Moroccan security forces in allowing the entry to Ceuta of thousands of people and the existence of prior alerts about the risks that this entry would actually occur. The police describe the events as a “massive violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty.”
This report already caused controversy within the Ministry of the Interior. The minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, asked the Director General of the Police, Francisco Pardo, for explanations about its content, for highlighting the role of “passivity” or “almost active” of the Moroccan gendarmes.
The Police maintain that the massive entry was a planned and orchestrated operation. Although it does not point to anyone directly, it recalls that in other similar events the Moroccan government already acknowledged its responsibility. Pardo tried yesterday to calm the waters with a statement to assure that the Police do not hold Morocco responsible, a thesis that would be contrary to the position of Pedro Sánchez’s Government which has defended throughout this crisis the collaborative role of the neighboring country.
Another thorny issue touched on by the report is whether there were prior alerts of the risk of this avalanche. The report records up to nine from July 29 to August 4. The reasons for these alerts are that the Supreme Court had issued a ruling on July 8 warning that if someone enters Ceuta by swimming, a border rejection cannot be executed. To this fact was added the extraordinary regularization of immigrants approved by the Government and a massive disinformation campaign through social networks that created a breeding ground for thousands of people to first throw themselves into the sea and then on foot.
Grande-Marlaska has defended from the beginning that there were no alerts of this extreme risk and yesterday Pardo interpreted from the content of the report that regarding the warning that CENIF sent on July 29 to the border posts, it was a frequent risk alert that did not include any reference to a possible massive entry the next day.
