The judge ends the investigation into the Algeciras attack and classifies the facts as a terrorist murder

2023-09-05 16:23:16

The judge of the National Court Joaquín Gadea has put an end to the investigation that was followed in relation to Yassine Kanjaa, the alleged jihadist who last January led an attack in Algeciras that resulted in the death of the sacristan of the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma Diego Valencia and with several wounded, and describes the facts as a crime of terrorist murder, punishable by a reviewable permanent prison sentence.

A sacristan murdered and a priest seriously injured in an attack in Algeciras that the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating as terrorism

Further

In his order, collected by Europa Press, the reinforcing magistrate of the Central Investigating Court number 6 also adds the crime of terrorist injuries, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, and clarifies that after the extensive investigative activity, the transformation of the preliminary investigations into ordinary proceedings considering that the facts fit into crimes of terrorism.

To reach this conclusion, Gadea relies on the police reports and statements, the statements of witnesses and injured parties, the statement made by the person being investigated, as well as the expert reports and documentation collected during these months of investigation. He includes in his review an intelligence report from EUROPOL in which the attack carried out by Yassine Kanjaa is contextualized, relating it to other terrorist actions carried out in Europe and which had temples or people of the Christian religion as specific objectives.

According to the aforementioned report, terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State or Al Qaeda in any of their affiliates have systematically included references to the Christian community and symbols as an objective, inciting their followers to attack places of worship.

The resolution reviews the events that occurred on January 25 in Algeciras and considers that the person under investigation had premeditated the fatal attack, as revealed by the conversations he had with his mother on the WhatsApp messaging application, which also indicated the level of religiosity that was acquiring in the weeks leading up to the commission of the attack.

This, without prejudice, adds the judge, of “the psychic alterations that he could suffer, which would affect, if a condemnatory pronouncement is issued, the scope of guilt, without affecting the classification of the facts as terrorists.”