The Prosecutor's Office of the Provincial Court has requested sentences of between 10 and 8 years in prison for the two skippers and the 'collector' of the boat that collided with the Civil Guard patrol boat on December 13, 2012 in the Los Ancones area, in Teguise, in an accident in which 8 immigrants died. The prosecutor considers that Jamaal Z., Aziz Z. and Aziz Y. committed a crime against the rights of foreign citizens by trying to illegally introduce into Spain the 25 immigrants who were traveling on the boat.
Very close to the coast, that boat was detected by the Integral Exterior Surveillance Service and followed by the Civil Guard patrol boat "Cabaleiro". A few minutes later, there was a collision between both boats that caused the boat to break and the immigrants to fall into the sea. After that collision, only 17 immigrants were rescued alive. The corpse of Ali Boulid was found then, but the remaining 7 bodies never appeared. However, in the trial, which will take place this Thursday in the Provincial Court, only the situation of the three accused of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens will be elucidated, but not the accident, which is being investigated in a separate piece.
Regarding the involvement of the accused, all of them of Moroccan nationality and in provisional prison since January 19, 2013, the prosecutor considers in his indictment that Jamaal Z. and Aziz Y. "were in charge of skippering the boat, with Jamaal Z. being the main person in charge of it", while Aziz Z. "was in charge of collecting the money that the foreign immigrants had to hand over to have the right to a place on the boat", a sum that would amount, according to him, to between 400 and 500 euros per person.
The main defendant "left the boat without control"
The prosecutor points out in his qualification document that Jamaal Z., "upon realizing that they were being followed" by the patrol boat and "after having carried out a maneuver that could have facilitated the boarding", released the engine control and hid among the other occupants of the boat, "thus leaving the boat without control". Thus, he asks that a sentence of 10 years in prison be imposed on him. In addition, the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office emphasizes in his writing that the cayuco "did not meet the minimum safety conditions for a journey across the ocean, and all occupants lacked any means to save their lives."
The Prosecutor's Office document states about this defendant that "he managed to flee swimming" from the scene of the events. Jamaal Z. took refuge in a house on Menéndez Pelayo street in Arrecife. On January 17, the Investigating Court number 3 of Arrecife ordered the "entry and search" of that house, which allowed the arrest of the accused, who entered provisional prison two days later. For their part, the other two defendants, for whom the prosecutor is asking for 8 years in prison, were arrested at the Foreigners Internment Center of Barranco Seco.
In his qualification, the Prosecutor's Office includes a list of witnesses who must testify at the hearing, in which he also requests that the defendants testify. Among these declarants, in addition to four national police officers and four civil guards who took charge of the different reports that were derived from the event, the prosecutor also cites two protected witnesses.
"Lack of interest" from SOS Racism
The Prosecutor's Office's account contrasts in principle with the vision of the events of SOS Racism. The association appeared in the case as a popular accusation and requested "the free dismissal of the proceedings, understanding that there is no crime against the rights of foreign citizens", as stated in the prosecutor's document.
The Public Prosecutor's Office continues to relate that, after the separate piece investigating the collision between the boat and the patrol boat was initiated in April 2013, SOS Racism was requested "to specify in which of the cases it intended to appear" and the association "stated", in a document received by the Court on April 30, 2013, "that only it appeared as a popular accusation in the events consisting of the accident between the boat and the patrol boat".
Thus, the prosecutor considers that "no document from SOS Racism should be accepted" in this procedure and requests that "its appearance" be "not admitted". "Not only did it not show its interest in the present case in the aforementioned document, but it has also requested the dismissal of the proceedings, again manifesting its lack of interest in the lawsuit, so it should be removed from the accusation", he concludes.