The Spanish public prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that it had closed its investigation into the deaths of at least 23 African migrants who died after attempting to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco on June 24.
This classification without follow-up was decided for lack of having identified “signs of crime in the actions of the agents” of the Spanish “security forces” during this tragedy, said the prosecution in a press release. “We cannot conclude that the action of the agents increased the risk weighing on the life and the physical integrity of the migrants and we cannot therefore charge them with manslaughter”, he added.
2,000 migrants tried to cross the fence
The prosecution, however, specifies that it has sent to the heads of the security forces elements for possible disciplinary proceedings against agents suspected of having thrown stones at migrants. The Spanish public prosecutor announced the opening of this investigation a few days after the tragedy, saying it wanted to “shed light on what happened”.
At least 23 migrants died in the tragedy, according to Moroccan authorities, when nearly 2,000 migrants tried to cross the high chain-link fence separating Melilla from the Moroccan border town of Nador (north).
NGOs and independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have reported 37 deaths during this tragedy, the deadliest ever recorded on the borders between Morocco and the two Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the only borders of the European Union on the African continent.