The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has definitively closed the case opened for the tragedy of El Tarajal, a breakwater in Ceuta bordering Morocco where 15 people died trying to swim across to Spanish territory while the Civil Guard deployed anti-riot means to prevent it.
In a sentence dated May 27 and to which ABC had access, the magistrates dismissed the appeal filed by CEAR, the Coordinator of Neighborhoods, Observatori De Drets Humans, who asked to revoke the dismissal of the case for 16 civil guards who came to be prosecuted for alleged crimes of reckless homicide and denial of aid.
They were all exonerated when the Ceuta court decided to file the case, after the Provincial Court had forced its reopening, in application of the Botín doctrine: only the NGOs accused the agents, that is, popular accusations, that neither individuals nor public as the Prosecutor’s Office.
However, the Chamber does not get to go into the merits of the case because it analyzes in the first place if against that decision to close the case it was possible to appeal in cassation. The answer, in light of doctrine and jurisprudence, is no.
“Since the sentence issued by the Provincial Court resolving the appeal against what was decided by the Criminal Court is not subject to appeal, neither can the order agreeing on the free dismissal, in all equivalent to the issuance of an acquittal », says the Chamber, which imposes the costs on NGOs.
