Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S public prosecutor has shelved a probe into the migrant tragedy that occurred at the border fence separating the Spanish exclave city of Melilla in North Africa and Morocco on June 24.
At least 23 people were killed and dozens more remain unaccounted for after the attempt by would-be migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to rush the border fence and reach Spanish soil.
Since the tragic episode, which saw many of the victims die in a human crush, there has been a series of accusations against the Spanish authorities of wrongdoing, ranging from not helping the injured to express expulsions back to Morocco of those who reached Spanish soil.
Despite the evidence – including a series of apparently incriminating videos compiled for a BBC documentary – the Public Prosecutor has found that there is no indication that the Spanish authorities committed any offences.
The prosecutor’s actions will come as a relief for the Spanish interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who has come under increasing pressure from the political opposition as video evidence from the incident has emerged.
He has always insisted that the Spanish authorities behaved correctly in the face of the violent actions of the migrants, and that none of the victims died on Spanish soil.
A number of human rights organisations, however, are planning to continue legal action in a bid to get the case in front of a judge, Spanish daily El País reports.
Read more:
- Opposition party calls on Spain’s interior minister to quit over Melilla migrant tragedy that killed 23
- Civil Guard admits using scores of gas canisters during Melilla migrant tragedy that left 23 dead
